#InvestInWaterMA message comes to Route 1

SHARON--When New England Patriots fans stream into Gillette Stadium Sunday afternoon to see the Pats take on the Buffalo Bills, thousands of them will also be seeing a message urging them to cheer on another important team: The providers of critical water and sewer infrastructure that deliver clean drinking water and protect our environment and public health.

Through a partnership with Carroll Advertising, the #InvestInWaterMA coalition, led by the Utility Contractors Association of New England (UCANE), has secured placement of its pro-water-investment message on a Carroll billboard on a highly traveled part U.S. Route 1 southbound, just north of Gillette Stadium.

“Water & sewer infrastructure = Healthy, strong communities,” reads the billboard, which also directs passing motorists to learn more by searching for the #InvestInWaterMA hashtag on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

“With all the federal and state infrastructure and COVID relief funding now becoming available, over the last year our coalition has been working tirelessly to keep this message front and center: Water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure need to be recognized as a top priority for keeping our residents and communities healthy, strong, and growing,” said UCANE President Marcella Albanese, who is also president of Albanese Brothers Construction Inc., a leading underground utility contractor based in Dracut. “While water infrastructure is often out of sight, we can’t ever let it become out of mind.”

Earlier this month, Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation approving $100 million from the state’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to support water and sewer investment. UCANE Executive Director Jeff Mahoney called that “a solid and much-appreciated down payment” towards meeting unmet needs for water infrastructure investment, but well short of the $400 million-plus recommended by the Governor, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation to begin to address the $18 billion water infrastructure funding gap facing the Commonwealth.

UCANE is comprised of more than 250 major contractors and associated businessmen and women who perform underground utility construction projects, including water, sewer, electrical, gas, and fiber-optic telecommunications, primarily in Massachusetts and throughout New England. Members include both union and non-union companies and range from small, family-owned businesses to large corporations and include many minority- and women-owned businesses and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs).

Other organizations backing the #InvestInWaterMA coalition include the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBIO), NAIOP Massachusetts, the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Water Works Association, the New England Water Works Association, the Charles River Watershed Association, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Wastewater Advisory Committee.