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The Aging Water Infrastructure (AWI) research program is part of EPA's larger effort called the Sustainable Water Infrastructure (SI) initiative. The SI initiative brings together drinking water and wastewater utility managers; trade associations; local watershed protection organizations; and federal, state, and local officials to ensure that all components of our nation's water infrastructure….drinking water treatment plants, drinking water distribution lines, sewer lines, and storage facilities….meet future needs. The AWI research program supports the four priority areas of the SI initiative's strategy: (1) Better Management - moving beyond compliance to sustainability and improved performance, (2) Full-cost Pricing - helping utilities to recognize the full cost of providing service over the long term, (3) Water Efficiency - promoting water efficiency in the residential and commercial sectors, (4) Watershed Approach - integrating watershed management principles and tools into utility planning and management practices. The driving force behind the SI initiative and the AWI research program is the "Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis." In this report, EPA estimated that if operation, maintenance, and capital investment remain at current levels, the potential funding shortage for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure could exceed $500 billion by 2020.

"Several prominent professors at U.S. colleges have participated in China's talent acquisition program, according to leaked documents from a Chinese regional authority. The professors worked with the Thousand Talents Program (TTP), a controversial state-backed recruitment plan criticized by U.S. officials for its role in transferring Western research and technology to China."

Please be sure to select some text that gives us a sense of the "scan hit"

DRIVER-INFRASTRUCTURE-FUNDING-POLITICS 5-year update to 50-year Texas Water Plan QUICK FACTS: **Texas' state water plans are based on future conditions in the event of a recurrence of the worst recorded drought in Texas' history-known as the "drought of record"-a time when, generally, water supplies are lowest and water demands are highest. **Texas' population is anticipated to increase 73 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 29.7 million to 51.5 million, with approximately half of this growth occurring in Regions C and H. Water demands are projected to increase less significantly, by approximately 9 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 17.7 million to 19.2 million acre-feet per year. **Texas' existing water supplies-those that can already be relied on in the event of drought-are projected to decline by approximately 18 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 16.8 million to 13.8 million acre-feet per year primarily due to reservoir sedimentation and depletion of aquifers. **Water user groups face a potential water shortage of 3.1 million acre-feet per year in 2020 and 6.9 million acrefeet per year in 2070 in drought of record conditions. **Approximately 5,800 water management strategies recommended in this plan would provide 1.7 million acrefeet per year in additional water supplies to water user groups in 2020 and 7.7 million acre-feet per year in 2070. **Conservation strategies represent approximately 29 percent, or 2.2 million acre-feet per year, of all recommended water management strategy volumes in 2070 and were recommended for more than half of the water user groups in the plan. **The estimated capital cost to design, construct, and implement the more than 2,400 recommended water management strategy projects by 2070 is $80 billion. If strategies are not implemented, approximately one-quarter of Texas' population in 2070 would have less than half the municipal water supplies they will require during a drought of record. **If Texas does not implement the sta

"We're taking this approach to break down the barriers that candidates with autism most often face. In addition to bias, there may be challenges with how interviews are structured or conducted without the right tools. For these reasons, we will offer candidates in this program reasonable accommodations like extended interview time, providing questions in advance, or conducting the interview in writing in a Google Doc rather than verbally on a call. These accommodations don't give those candidates an unfair advantage. It's just the opposite: They remove an unfair disadvantage so candidates have a fair and equitable chance to compete for the job."

On race day, it is not drivers that will make the difference -- but about 40,000 lines of code programmed by each team. "If people get used to seeing cars like these going 300 kilometers per hour... and they don't crash," said Savaresi, they may eventually think that such cars are safe "at 50 kilometers per hour."

"Arcadia program will work with nature to develop "probiotics" for military materials and equipment to prevent corrosion, decrease drag.(...) Bacteria are the most abundant and diverse lifeform on Earth, coating almost every surface, with the majority spending their lives in biofilms.his lifestyle is universally perceived as problematic since biofilms contribute significantly to equipment degradation. However, biofilms do not have to be a problem. New insights suggest biofilms could be rendered beneficial by redirecting their composition and structure. Similar to the Arcadian vision of harmony with nature, the DARPA Arcadia program will develop "probiotics" to protect military materials and equipment using naturally occurring microorganisms to generate robust and beneficial coatings."

"The administration's multitrillion-dollar social spending package, widely considered the most comprehensive climate legislation ever put forward in the US, must survive razor-thin Democratic majorities in Congress...The bill includes a program of payments and penalties to ensure utilities phase out fossil fuels from America's electricity supply, a huge expansion in tax credits for clean energy and new restrictions on methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is emitted from oil and gas drilling."

DRIVER-FUNDING-INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING INFRASTRUCTURE: The nationwide need for investment in water and wastewater infrastructure continues to far outpace the amount of funding that is available at all levels of government and the United States has an estimated need between $400 and $600 billion over the next 20 years for safe drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. One of the primary sources of federal funding for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure are the highly successful, but chronically underfunded, Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) programs. Modernizing and replacing aging water infrastructure may be the single largest public works endeavor in our nation's history. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis found a $540 billion gap between current spending and projected needs for water and wastewater infrastructure (combined) over 20 years. Other public studies conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and a private study produced by AGC partner, the Water Infrastructure Network, have similarly estimated the nation?s water infrastructure needs to range between $400 and $600 billion over a 20-year period.

DRIVER-TREATMENT-POLITICS-POLLUTION The original 1948 statute (Ch. 758; P.L. 845), the Water Pollution Control Act, authorized the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, in cooperation with other Federal, state and local entities, to prepare comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing the pollution of interstate waters and tributaries and improving the sanitary condition of surface and underground waters. During the development of such plans, due regard was to be given to improvements necessary to conserve waters for public water supplies, propagation of fish and aquatic life, recreational purposes, and agricultural and industrial uses. The original statute also authorized the Federal Works Administrator to assist states, municipalities, and interstate agencies in constructing treatment plants to prevent discharges of inadequately treated sewage and other wastes into interstate waters or tributaries.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is evaluating Space Exploration Technologies Corporation's (SpaceX) Starship/Super Heavy program, in particular a proposal to operate the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle at its existing Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas and conduct launches originating from this site. This could be real trouble for Musk. If the FAA makes his life difficult, how will he react?

Treasury's just-released Climate Action Plan establishes five priority actions to strengthen and build upon Treasury's climate resilience and adaptive capabilities: (1) rebuilding programs and capabilities that may have atrophied or stagnated in recent years; (2) addressing climate change impacts and vulnerabilities across the range of Departmental operations, including administrative, manufacturing, and law enforcement activities; (3) ensuring a climate-focused approach to managing Treasury's real property portfolio footprint; (4) enabling procurement management to fully consider climate change realities; and (5) providing, measuring, and accounting for a financial investment approach appropriate to the Department's climate objectives.

Eighty-one percent of U.S. adults say the future of U.S. democracy is under threat, a sentiment shared by most Republicans, Democrats and independents. But when they were asked which party poses the bigger risk, it was a statistical tie between people who said the Democratic Party (42 percent) and the Republican Party (41 percent). An additional 8 percent of Americans blame both parties for playing a role. "We have one point of bipartisan agreement that the ship is sinking," said Edward Foley, who directs the election law program at Ohio State University. "But the problem is that each side blames the other for the ship sinking."

Google has launched a new website called Find Food Support, which puts important resources on how to locate free and affordable food in the US in one place. Perhaps the most useful feature the website can offer is a new Google Maps tool that can point you to the nearest food bank, food pantry or school lunch program pickup site.

The Department of Defense's (DOD) Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight (Corrosion Office) provides information, including the needed funding levels for the military departments' Corrosion Control and Prevention Executives (Corrosion Executives), in its Corrosion Office Annual Reports to Congress. Corrosion Executives are responsible for overseeing efforts to prevent and mitigate corrosion of weapon system programs and infrastructure.