The Treatment - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 49

as a “ porous city .” With a $1.6 billion investment, the city will plant thousands of trees,
build rain gardens and urban farms, and create permeable basketball courts and park-
ing lots that allow rain to slowly sink into gravel beds and eventually into the ground-
water supply.
The volume of water flowing through sewers will increase this century, as more people
produce more sewage and global warming causes more rainfall. But we have ignored
our sewage infrastructure for decades, and now systems across the country are relying
on outdated technology. It is a serious and growing problem. President Obama's fiscal
stimulus bill of 2009 set aside $6 billion to improve water systems, and legislation on
Capitol Hill includes millions of dollars in water infrastructure grants. But those funds
will not be sufficient. According to estimates by the EPA and the Government Account-
ability Office, upgrading the nation's sewer systems will require $400 billion by 2020 .
“People wonder where their water is comin' from,but they never think about where
it goes,and what it takes to clean it,” said Jim Pynn, waving at Newtown Creek plant's gi-
ant sewage digesters. “But wastewater treatment is absolutely vital. Imagine what would
happen if this place stopped working one day? Let's just say it wouldn't be pretty.”