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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Hope for Crumbling New York Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

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Tuesday, March 17, 2015   

NEW YORK - Budget proposals are now pending in Albany that would address what many advocates agree are long overdue water quality needs across the state.

If approved, the funds would go to fix some treatment facilities dating back to the 1950s.

Carl LoBue, senior marine scientist with the Nature Conservancy on Long Island, says the measures pending in the Senate and Assembly would be a wise down payment on water quality needs that affect the health, environment and economic qualities of the state.

"The longer we wait to fix these water quality problems, the worse it'll get, the longer it'll take and the more expensive it will be," he says. "So it really makes sense to make these infrastructure investments now, while there are some resources available."

The state Senate has proposed $500 million in clean water infrastructure grants for communities, while the Assembly has proposed $250 million.

According to LoBue, communities around the state are on the hook for around $36 billion, and that's just to maintain aging infrastructure. He says Long Island is long overdue for this kind of investment.

"Here on Long Island, we know we have massive areas that really should be sewered," says LoBue. "And in places like Nassau County, we have a great need to modernize what's basically Eisenhower-era sewage treatment facilities."

LoBue says what counts is what ends up in the final budget, but he believes lawmakers are taking an important lead in paying attention to these long-term needs.

"It's a down payment on outdated, and in some cases crumbling, water and wastewater infrastructure needs," he says. "Hopefully, the governor will work with the Senate and the Assembly, and prioritize water and wastewater infrastructure in the final budget."

The proposed budget is expected to be finalized April 1.


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