Small water systems serving 10,000 people or less comprise more than 94% of our nation’s public water systems. They are a large and diverse group, and are managed by a wide variety actors – from local and tribal governments, to … Read more
* This blog was originally posted on the UNC EFC’s previous website on June 24th, 2015, and has been re-posted on our current website for our audience’s viewing. By Glenn Barnes In previous posts, we outlined how to use … Read more
In honor of Infrastructure Week (May 11-15, 2015), we dug into a report published by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in March. Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to 2014 reports on trends in federal, state, and local government spending on infrastructure, using data acquired from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This graph illustrates the federal funding trends for water and wastewater utilities between 1956 and 2014, in 2014 dollars. Funding levels have decreased dramatically — nearly fourfold between 1980 and 2014. The consequence for communities nationwide is even more significant when considering that a majority of the federal funds in the 1970s and 1980s were provided as grants, while the majority of the funds provided since the 1990s have primarily been loans.
In 2014-2015, the EFC and the North Carolina League of Municipalities conducted a survey of water and wastewater rates and fees charged by North Carolina utilities owned by local governments, not-for-profit associations, and for-profit entities. As part of this effort, … Read more
* This blog was originally posted on the UNC EFC’s previous website on April 23rd, 2015, and has been re-posted on our current website for our audience’s viewing. By Glenn Barnes In a previous post, we outlined how to … Read more
* This blog was originally posted on the UNC EFC’s previous website on February 27th, 2015, and has been re-posted on our current website for our audience’s viewing. By Glenn Barnes In previous posts, we have discussed where to … Read more
Infrastructure has been in the news a lot lately. The president highlighted it in his budget speech/State of the Union address, and if you live in North Carolina, you heard the Governor highlight it in his State of the State speech … Read more
One hazard that water utilities with financial difficulties face is an increased risk of falling out of compliance of federal requirements and drinking water regulations. Violating regulations often triggers enforcement actions (and sometimes fines) by the state primacy agency, adding to the time … Read more
Ever need to know how many single-family wood-framed houses were sold in the Midwest last year? Or the latitude and longitude of every farmers market in Wisconsin that sells herbs, flowers, and soap? What about the number of planes that … Read more
The call came in on a December morning several years ago. When I saw that the caller ID said “Santa Claus” I decided not to answer the phone. My thought was “seriously, what will these telemarketers think of next?!?” Later … Read more
