Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Sound public infrastructure is critical to our quality of life, our safety, and the economic vitality of the region. Infrastructure not only includes roads, bridges, rail, air and transit systems and our ports, but also the extensive system of largely unseen utilities that provide clean water and carry away and effectively treat wastewater for our communities.

For some, it is easy to take all of this infrastructure for granted since much of it has been in place for many years and in some cases, remains unseen by its users—out of sight and out of mind. However, when these critical systems fail or do not perform as intended, our day-to-day activities and way of life can suffer—February’s power grid failure in Texas during extreme weather conditions is a recent prevailing example.

The Hampton Roads Sanitation District was formed in the 1940s to address water quality concerns in Hampton Roads. As the regional wastewater agency, HRSD is responsible for con...