Much like the dripping faucet in the back bathroom that you haven’t fixed, we as a local, state and federal community have been putting off the repair and replacement of our critical infrastructure. Whether it is the erosion of the roads that we encounter daily, or the water, sewer and power grids that we don’t see or think about much, the infrastructure that supports our modern lives has been neglected.
Blair Burroughs, Executive Director on the Washington Association of Water and Sewer Districts, recently wrote, “Quality infrastructure is essential to the economic vitality and quality of life of Washington’s communities. The reality is that to keep our society and economy functioning we are going to have to spend many billions of dollars to maintain, restore, and rebuild our rapidly aging infrastructure systems.”
Evergreen State College’s Center for Sustainable Infrastructure undertook the development of a plan to make smart investments in the repair and replacement of our critical infrastructure. The team interviewed 70 of the region’s top infrastructure innovators and thought leaders. The result is an incisive report based on these interviews. Infrastructure Crisis, Sustainable Solutions. offers inspiration and guidance to help communities, and decision-makers to rethink our infrastructure investment strategies.