The U.S. Conference of Mayors is calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to move forward with a new Integrated Planning and Permitting Policy, or IP3, that is being discussed as an improvement to the agency's legal enforcement programs for stormwater management and combined sewer overflows.
At a May 31 panel discussion in Washington, D.C., five mayors described the challenges of meeting EPA's clean-water regulatory requirements. Public investments in water infrastructure projects have grown from $50 billion in 1995 to more than $103 billion in 2009; the total from 1956 to 2008 is $1.6 trillion, said Tom Cochran, CEO and executive director for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.