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| New Report Assesses Reconstruction Costs in Gulf Coast The report, Assessment of Reconstruction Costs and Debt Management for Wastewater Utilities Affected by Hurricane Katrina, finds that affected utilities are struggling to find an estimated $1.4 billion needed to repair and rebuild these systems, as well as to replace lost revenues due to a reduction in population. The report, which focused on Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, estimated that 445,000 people lost their homes due to a 15 to 25 foot storm surge that hit the three states. In addition to the devastating personal losses, displaced populations will result in reduced revenues for wastewater utilities in the surge zone. Presented to Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the non-commissioned report was published by the not-for-profit Water Environment Federation (WEF), in collaboration with global engineering, consulting and construction company Black & Veatch, several municipal water agencies, and volunteers from among WEF's 36,000 members. Databases provided by EPA and states were used in the study and revealed that 118 wastewater utilities serving approximately 1.8 million people were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The final report found that the total cost assessment to repair and rebuild wastewater collection and treatment plant infrastructure was about $1.2 billion. In addition, an estimated $163 million will be needed by the wastewater utilities to maintain financial solvency and critical infrastructure because of the impact on revenue of the reduced population in their service areas. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |