America’s Path to Water Infrastructure Inequality
America’s Path to Water Infrastructure Inequality
Engineering Leadership Certificate Program Session II
Presented by the Department of Civil Engineering with sponsorship by the ASCE Met Section, CCNY and John Jay College
This presentation describes the nexus between debt, declining population in “shrinking” cities and towns, antiquated water infrastructure and public health, which is producing water crises in Flint, MI; Denmark, SC and Newark, NJ and around the U.S.. America’s current paradigm does not provide State or Federal funding to assist those who have been left behind in rural areas or post-industrial cities, that would allow them to maintain basic levels of civilization and water safety-- short of a declared Federal emergency such as that occurring in Flint, MI. To avoid the unacceptable situation in which Americans are told their water is meeting Federal safety standards when that not true, bankrupt cities must either be exempted from Federal clean water act laws (i.e., residents told “they are on their own” in terms of water safety), or else State and Federal infrastructure assistance should be provided.
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About the speaker:
Marc Edwards is a University Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he teaches courses in environmental engineering, applied aquatic chemistry and engineering ethics. His research group conducted the investigative science uncovering the 2001-2004 D.C. Lead Crisis and the 2014-2016 Flint Water Disaster. Time Magazine dubbed Edwards “The Plumbing Professor” in 2004, listing him amongst the 4 most important “Innovators” in water from around the world. The White House awarded him a Presidential Faculty Fellowship in 1996, he won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2007, and in 2013 Edwards’ was the 9th recipient (in a quarter century) of the IEEE Barus Award for “courageously defending the public interest at great personal risk.” In 2016 he was named amongst TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential people in the World, the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine, Politico Magazine’s Top 50 Visionaries who have transformed American politics, Foreign Policy Magazines 100 World’s Greatest Thinkers, and was short-listed amongst Flint whistleblowers as Time person(s) of the year. He was co-recipient of the inaugural 2017 MIT Disobedience Award, received the 2018 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility award, and the Hoover Humanitarian Medal in 2019.
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