ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT
Portable Sanitation Association International News
BIWEEKLY EDITION FEBRUARY 17, 2021
Page 2
Disposal Challenges Require Long-Term Planning and Investment…continued from page 1
Continued on page 13
A 2017 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) stated:
"The nation's 14,748 wastewater treatment plants are the most basic and critical infrastructure
systems for protecting public health and the environment. […] It's expected that more than 56
million new users will be connected to centralized treatment systems over the next two decades,
requiring at least $271 billion to meet current and future demands."
Yet a 2021 report from ASCE
published recently estimates that
wastewater infrastructure projects will
be significantly underfunded over the
next 20 years, to the tune of nearly
$2.5 trillion (see figure 1 at right). The
most recent report states,
"…poorly operating water/
wastewater systems will…affect
business production and may even
cause harm to public health."
It also predicts that companies and
business owners will have to pick
up the costs of these infrastructure
shortfalls, thus affecting business
growth, customer costs and
household income. The report says,
"These costs [will] absorb funds from
businesses that would otherwise be
directed to investment or research
and development…[t]hus, not only
will business and personal income be
lower, but more of that income will
need to be diverted to infrastructure-
related costs."
In other words, the cavalry is not
coming. The burden will be on
portable sanitation companies to
plan for their long-term disposal
needs, and they should start soon.
In most cases it will be important
to plan for future disposal under
the assumption that publicly owned
treatment works (POTW) will be
reducing access or barring it altogether for commercial enterprises like portable sanitation. The situation may be
different in some areas, and certainly activism with local officials can improve things somewhat when treatment
plant capacity is not maxed out. But it is also critical that portable sanitation firms behave proactively so they are
not caught flat-footed when treatment options are reduced or prices to dispose escalate.
