http://www.kcbs.com/Bipartisan-Call-to-Improve-Nation-s-Water-Infrastr/6279658

Apparently all it takes to get Republicans and Democrats to stand together is water.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell are calling for the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank tasked with lending the trillions needed to improve aging water delivery systems around the country.

The two unveiled an initiative to create the bank in San Jose on Wednesday against the backdrop of the city's waste water treatment plant.

The bank would become a resource for maintenance projects like the work needed at the facility, where Mayor Chuck Reed says only five of 16 sewage digesters simply don't work.

The city is already moving ahead with upgrades, Reed said. But a bank like the one proposed by the Democratic and Republican governors would allow cheaper, faster financing.

Meeting the needs of every such facility, Schwarzenegger said, could cost as much as $2.2 trillion over the next five years.

Rendell said water projects are actually more important the roads and bridges. As he sees it, water will someday become more precious than oil.