[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 8, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           HONORING THE WATER ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH FOUNDATION

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 8, 2014

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a very important organization 
based in my congressional district. Founded in Alexandria, Virginia, in 
1989, The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) coordinates 
unbiased, scientifically rigorous water quality research among teams of 
federal, state, and local agencies that represent over 75 percent of 
the U.S. population served by waste water treatments plants, of the 
U.S. Under the leadership of founding Executive Director Glenn 
Reinhardt, WERF has grown from a few employees to a highly respected 
national center of water quality research with a full-time staff of 23 
and an annual budget of over $10 million. The foundation's efforts have 
improved human and ecological health, fostered new water quality 
management processes and spear-headed the development of new 
technologies.
  WERF has managed nearly 550 research projects, valued at more than 
$130 million, with $19 million (cash and in-kind) work ongoing 
annually. Its research has helped create many new tools for restoring 
water quality and informed better state and federal regulation, saving 
the U.S. water quality community well as much as $2 billion over the 
last twenty years. For instance, WERF's watershed trading demonstration 
projects led to hundreds of millions in regulatory savings while its 
investment of only $92,500 into new sewer designs, materials, and 
rehabilitation techniques reduced annual costs at wastewater collection 
systems nationwide by at least $75 million.
  In times when federal spending on wastewater infrastructure continues 
to fall in real and inflation adjusted terms WERF research provides one 
of the few means to control or reduce the staggering cost of essential 
infrastructure upgrades, which by some estimates approach $500 billion 
over the next twenty years.
  WERF focuses on the critical issues as identified by its subscribers, 
including wastewater infrastructure management, wet weather (runoff) 
control, biosolids handling, and wastewater utility responses to 
climate change. Newer challenges rising up the research agenda include 
nutrient removal, wastewater utility operations optimization, trace 
organics effects, wastewater services and costs, green infrastructure, 
and recovering energy from wastewater.
  For many years, WERF received federal funding through Appropriation 
Committees on which I have served. Those funds have been leveraged at a 
3:1 or better rate with monies largely from local wastewater treatment 
facilities. This highly successful public/private partnership should be 
celebrated and expanded, and I ask Congress to redouble its efforts to 
support water quality research. My congratulations to the entire WERF 
staff and volunteers for their fine work on behalf of us all and for 
reaching this significant milestone.
  Mr. Speaker, congratulations are in order for a job well done.

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