Transcript 0:00 [gentle music] I don't wanna see us lose more lives. We're seeing our towns being destroyed right now. We're seeing unrest. Let's turn that unrest into opportunities. 0:14 Let's think about how we can develop our communities. We've seen such devastation that we don't need to. We need to build our infrastructure. We need to build our communities. 0:27 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:50 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:55 This month on The Peggy Smedley Show, we will be talking all about technology for first responders, but first I want to thank our first responders for all the things that you do for us because that is so very much valued and appreciated. 1:09 So on the show today, I'm gonna dive into the topic of infrastructure because we need a solid infrastructure in place in order to enable all of our first responders to do their jobs and to do it well. 1:22 So to kick off the whole month, we will be following the money. I know that's exciting, right? We're gonna follow the money. 1:29 I will give you the real facts on where we are spending all of our infrastructure dollars and how that will ultimately impact what we are doing in the Internet of Things. 1:39 So later on in the show, I'll be interviewing David Ebert. 1:42 He is the associate vice president for research and partnerships at the Galgagi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and director of the Data Institute for Societal Challenges at the University of Oklahoma. 1:57 And then I'm gonna wrap up the show with Mike Lahiff, who's the co-founder and CEO of Zeroeyes. So stick around. We've got really great guests again on the show. So let's think about this. Money, money, money. 2:09 We all need it, but especially we need it to revitalize our infrastructure. Now, as I like to say, I have some good news and I have some bad news, but let's start with the bad news. 2:22 For those of you who have been following me for a very long time, you know I always like to cite the ASCE report card. 2:30 I cite it a lot because it's a very important report card because the last time the report card came out, it was in 2017. 2:37 And according to that, and very sadly I might add, once again, we will under-invest in our infrastructure dollars by two trillion dollars. Now, think about that. Two trillion dollars. 2:49 Now, the next report card isn't due until next year, and in the meantime, the ASCE did create a status report on COVID-19's impact on America's infrastructure. 3:02 Now, I find this super interesting because here are some of the numbers. In 2019, the US spent just two point five percent on our GDP on infrastructure, down from four point two percent in the 1930s. 3:20 Unfortunately, the pandemic has made a difficult situation with our infrastructure even worse, if you can believe that. 3:28 So we know a sizable portion of our infrastructure systems are supported with user-generated revenue streams, and with the pandemic, all of us, all of us, what are we doing? We're staying home. 3:42 We're not using our infrastructures, and we aren't using as much of our commercial water. We are all staying off of our roads, and we're staying away from the transit because we're all, what? We're stuck at home. 3:57 We all get it, right? I get it. You get it. It's, it's not surprising. And at the same time, local budgets are what? 4:04 They're busting at the seams, and we're all going to likely see less support for parks, schools, and other publicly owned infrastructure. Look, we're all seeing everybody debating about sending our kids to school. 4:18 Now, I could probably spend the entire segment, maybe even the whole show, on the impact of COVID-19 on our infrastructure, but let's narrow in on one specific area. Let's just talk about water. 4:32 As we face COVID-19, water utilities could be working tirelessly to ensure their aging infrastructure is still providing customers safe and reliable services. 4:44 Now, here are some of the numbers, and I want to say they're pretty scary. As a result of the pandemic, the drinking water sector is estimated to lose nearly fourteen billion, yep, I said billion, in annual revenue. 4:59 This includes more than five billion in losses related to suspending water service, disconnections, and increased customer delinquencies. Think about that. Customer delinquencies. Now, here's another one for you. 5:14 The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in twelve point five billion shortfall for the nation's wastewater utilities or about twenty percent average losses in total revenue. That's a lot of money. 5:29 This is due to the declines in the usage from commercial and industrial users and a temporary halt on shutoffs due to nonpayment. We're all really feeling the effects of the pandemic, aren't we, right? You get it. 5:46 At the same time, it is expected that more than fifty-six million new users will be connected to centralized treatment systems in the next two decades, and an estimated two hundred and seventy-one billion is needed to meet current needs and future demands.Basically, we need a lot of money, and we need it today. 6:10 That's, that's the bottom line. We need it today. Remember at the beginning of this show, I said we had some good news and we had some bad news. So now let's think about the good news part of this e-episode, right? 6:24 Let's think about that. We know that President Trump and the Trump administration has said he would like to invest one trillion for infrastructure to spur the economy. 6:35 While this isn't a political show, and I don't want to get into the politics because there's a whole lot going on right now and, and, and we don't need to get into that, we do need the funds to modernize our infrastructure, and the current administration has shown it supports the development of resilient infrastructure, including energy, transportation, and water. 6:55 And I love that. I love that we want to do this. And I've said for a long time we need a new infrastructure. We also know it wants to make a big push for 5G. 7:06 We see the administration is taking steps to invest already, especially in rural areas, which I think is really, really exciting. In August, the Illinois state director said the U.S. 7:18 Department of Agriculture is investing thirteen point seven million to modernize critical drinking and wastewater infrastructure in rural Illinois towns. That's awesome, right? 7:29 Over in Kansas, we're seeing fifteen point four million to modernize water and wastewater infrastructure in rural Kansas communities. These are stories we need to be hearing in the news today. We need more of it. 7:44 But the question is, will it be enough? That's what I'm worried about. I'm not sure, but it's a start. 7:50 But we're seeing the Trump administration continuing to invest in rural America and infrastructure, and that holds a lot of promise for the future. But we need a heck of a lot more. The U.S. 8:01 Department of Agriculture also announced an investment of more than three hundred and fifty thousand to provide technical assistance and training for small rural businesses in rural Pennsylvania. 8:15 It is also accepting applications through September tenth to help rural communities enhance their capacity for broadband access and support the development of transportation, housing, and recreational spaces. 8:30 This is all really great news, and this is what I want to spend the remainder of this show talking about because this is the power of what we can be doing. We have a big opportunity here to help our rural communities. 8:44 We know advanced technologies in wireless and data analytics can help our underserved farms and municipalities in many, many ways. Soil monitoring can enable farmers to monitor temperature and moisture. 9:01 Smart irrigation systems can increase yields, conserve resources, and comply with regulations. Think about that. Think about the power of that. 9:11 Tank level monitoring solutions can enable farmers to achieve better facility performance and uptime on livestock and machines. Think about what we're talking about here. 9:22 The IoT can also help with solid waste departments by enabling less frequent bin collections as just a simple example. Those are things that come to mind for me right now, and these are just a few. 9:34 But think of all the others that we've talked about just on this show. We know the opportunities are vast, and we know we need to be doing it, and we need to be doing things now. 9:46 But what are we all thinking about more that we could be doing? That's just a few of them. The more we use data to focus our needs and our environment, the more we are helping all of us in the U.S. 9:59 Okay, so here's my opinion for today. We need to consider the implications of COVID-19 is having on our infrastructure. I think we're not doing that. 10:09 I think we're so stuck at home, we're not realizing other things are happening. You know, so it's a trickle effect. 10:16 Our utilities are losing money at rates faster than ever before, and we can't have more failing infrastructure. It will be catastrophic if we let this continue. 10:28 We need to be thinking about how much more damage will happen if we don't think about it. And we have to start keeping up, and we might have a hard time keeping up with infrastructure if we don't think about it now. 10:42 The shortfalls will impact each and every one of us. We need to make a push to invest in our infrastructure, and we're seeing this start to happen, but we need to continue the momentum. It's not enough, but it's a start. 10:56 And those of us in the IoT community need to come together to keep our communities connected. We need to work smarter than ever before. What can we do? What are we thinking about? So here's my tip for today. 11:09 As an industry, look for needs that currently exist specifically with our infrastructure. 11:15 There is going to be a long-term ramifications of all of this that we're not thinking about yet, and that's what I want us all to be thinking about. 11:24 It's our job to figure out what we need to do and develop a solution today. We can't put it on the back burner. We have to be creative. Let's start asking the right questions. 11:36 How can we solve our infrastructure challenges together? If we don't start thinking about it, we're going to have bigger problems, and that's going to lead to multimillion-dollar challenges. 11:49 Or let's think on the flip side, multimillion-dollar opportunities if we start today. I don't want to see us lose more lives. We're seeing our towns being destroyed right now. We're seeing unrest. 12:05 Let's turn that unrest into opportunities. Let's think about how we can develop our communities. We've seen such devastation that we don't need to. We need to build our infrastructure. We need to build our communities. 12:21 But I want to hear from you. All right, we are out of time for this segment, but I want you to tweet at me. I want us to engage in a really great conversation about this. Send me a tweet at ConnectedWMag. 12:33 Let's really work together, figure out how we can solve our infrastructure problems. All month long, we're going to be talking about our first responders. 12:41 We're going to be talking about a whole lot of things, but we need to engage in a conversation together. All right. Check out our website. We put up a new article on connectedworld.com. 12:50 But if you missed any of our segments, go up to thepeggySMEDLEYshow.com. We've got great, great shows up there. All right. 12:56 And most importantly, we're going to take a quick commercial break, but we're going to be right back. As always, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 13:04 But remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Go get that quick cup of coffee. [outro music]
