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Infrastructure is an ungainly word that has been in the news lately with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and in various experts’ explanations on how infrastructure expenditures can help boost the economy out of its current downturn.
Webster defines infrastructure as the underlying foundation or basic framework of a system or organization. The word’s origin is in military science where it referred to the permanent structures and installations required for achieving the military’s goals.
Nevada County government’s public infrastructure isn’t military based, but it can be categorized as the permanent structures necessary to achieve the county’s service mission in areas including wastewater, solid waste and transportation facilities.
County infrastructure is the foundation supporting our citizens’ health and safety, our local economic system and our daily life in general. Even in independent minded Nevada County, most people have to use public roads and bridges, solid waste disposal facilities, recycling facilities, and a portion of our residents use public water and wastewater systems.
Infrastructure investment nationally has declined in relation to economic growth. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates the value of U.S. public infrastructure assets is $8.2 trillion, and the unmet needs of wastewater systems alone are $148 billion.
The cost of infrastructure is high, but the cost of failing infrastructure is even higher. The loss of life and expense of the collapsed I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, and the failed levees in New Orleans, are alarm calls for more attention to be paid to infrastructure.
In rural Nevada County, we have far less infrastructure than urban areas, but our infrastructure is just as important to our citizens’ health and safety, and the local economy. Much of infrastructure is underground, and the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” is often the case, but Nevada County has historically supported its public assets with significant local funding.
The county has been proactive in public health protection with investment in landfill environmental protection, household and hazardous waste, recycling and wastewater treatment plants and roads and bridges. Recently, the county has completed multimillion dollar improvements in the Lake Wildwood and Lake of the Pines wastewater plants, new hazardous waste collection facilities at the transfer station and safety improvements on Wolf and other roads.
Federal and State funds have been leveraged with local dollars to build more than we could afford on our own. The county is currently improving the Cascade Shores wastewater plant with $2.5 million in grants and working on road and bridge improvements with grants of $2 million to $3 million this year.
Infrastructure expenditures not only protect health and safety, and help goods and services flow more efficiently, but also are an investment that typically returns several fold to the local economy. Construction dollars go to contractors who buy materials, tools, vehicles and other equipment locally, returning money directly to supporting industries. Local contractors spend wage income at the grocery and clothing stores and support a myriad of service businesses.
While the current economic downturn necessitates careful control of expenses, dollars spent now locally purchase long-lived improvements that return on the investment long after the present challenges are behind us.
No one enjoys paying taxes, but the return on investment for infrastructure is something that can benefit everyone, and the Nevada County departments are working hard to obtain as much state and federal funding as possible to assist in that investment.
Webster defines infrastructure as the underlying foundation or basic framework of a system or organization. The word’s origin is in military science where it referred to the permanent structures and installations required for achieving the military’s goals.
Nevada County government’s public infrastructure isn’t military based, but it can be categorized as the permanent structures necessary to achieve the county’s service mission in areas including wastewater, solid waste and transportation facilities.
County infrastructure is the foundation supporting our citizens’ health and safety, our local economic system and our daily life in general. Even in independent minded Nevada County, most people have to use public roads and bridges, solid waste disposal facilities, recycling facilities, and a portion of our residents use public water and wastewater systems.
Infrastructure investment nationally has declined in relation to economic growth. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates the value of U.S. public infrastructure assets is $8.2 trillion, and the unmet needs of wastewater systems alone are $148 billion.
The cost of infrastructure is high, but the cost of failing infrastructure is even higher. The loss of life and expense of the collapsed I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, and the failed levees in New Orleans, are alarm calls for more attention to be paid to infrastructure.
In rural Nevada County, we have far less infrastructure than urban areas, but our infrastructure is just as important to our citizens’ health and safety, and the local economy. Much of infrastructure is underground, and the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” is often the case, but Nevada County has historically supported its public assets with significant local funding.
The county has been proactive in public health protection with investment in landfill environmental protection, household and hazardous waste, recycling and wastewater treatment plants and roads and bridges. Recently, the county has completed multimillion dollar improvements in the Lake Wildwood and Lake of the Pines wastewater plants, new hazardous waste collection facilities at the transfer station and safety improvements on Wolf and other roads.
Federal and State funds have been leveraged with local dollars to build more than we could afford on our own. The county is currently improving the Cascade Shores wastewater plant with $2.5 million in grants and working on road and bridge improvements with grants of $2 million to $3 million this year.
Infrastructure expenditures not only protect health and safety, and help goods and services flow more efficiently, but also are an investment that typically returns several fold to the local economy. Construction dollars go to contractors who buy materials, tools, vehicles and other equipment locally, returning money directly to supporting industries. Local contractors spend wage income at the grocery and clothing stores and support a myriad of service businesses.
While the current economic downturn necessitates careful control of expenses, dollars spent now locally purchase long-lived improvements that return on the investment long after the present challenges are behind us.
No one enjoys paying taxes, but the return on investment for infrastructure is something that can benefit everyone, and the Nevada County departments are working hard to obtain as much state and federal funding as possible to assist in that investment.
Mark Miller is Nevada County’s director of sanitation.
