Improving our water infrastructure

Jun 13, 2018 | Opinion | 0 comments

by Congressman Sam Graves


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Every two years, Congress takes up legislation designed to improve and enhance river infrastructure throughout the country. The Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA for short, deals with levees, locks, dams, ports, and anything else that might be related to the river. The Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with managing the river and Congress directs what projects they should work on.

As a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I get the opportunity to help craft the WRDA bill which affects two major rivers in North Missouri – the Mississippi and Missouri – as well as any other navigable body of water in the United States.

When it comes to managing the river, flood control is always my first priority. We must do everything we can to enable local stakeholders to prevent floods in their backyards.

There are currently measures in place enabling local authorities to pursue upgrading their flood control infrastructure. In the last few years, my constituents throughout North Missouri who rely on levees to protect their homes and businesses have reached out to me with concerns about that process. President Trump has called for streamlined permitting for infrastructure projects as a key plank in his regulatory reform agenda and I will fight to fix the permitting process in WRDA 2018.

Additionally, the Corps has prioritized fish and birds over people and property, specifically on the Missouri River, and this has actually led to more flooding. The Corps is tasked with preventing floods. This bill makes it clear that people and property are more important than fish and birds, a principal you can always count on me supporting.

While trying to prevent flooding is important, many other river initiatives are included in WRDA. Critical infrastructure such as locks, dams, and ports all contribute to a thriving economy on the river. I saw this firsthand when I toured Lock and Dam 20 and the Lewis County Port in Canton last fall and Port KC earlier this year.  That’s why we’ll continue to place a strong emphasis on improving these important facilities in WRDA 2018.

Quite simply, WRDA works. We take up the WRDA bill every two years because it enables us to update our river priorities and enhance our river infrastructure. Both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are tremendous assets that can be utilized to our benefit; how we manage them is critical to the future of our economy in North Missouri.

 Sam Graves is the Mo. Sixth District U.S. Representative.

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