How water infrastructure finance drives the size of our water bills, who can afford them, and the geography of urban landscapes. "Water crises" have emerged in the US with increasing regularity, from Flint, MI to Jackson, MS. Simultaneously, the rise in water bills for the past decade has far outpaced the rising cost of groceries, gas, or electricity, leading more Americans to add water to the growing list of their unaffordable basic necessities.
Water and Wall Street by Martin Doyle, Lauren Patterson, and Erika Smull uncovers how the seemingly arcane world of infrastructure finance underlies these and other water trends in US cities, and how water infrastructure shapes the most basic landscape of cities and suburbs.
The authors begin by describing the basics of how water infrastructure works, and more importantly, how it is financed by municipal bonds, the backbone of urban finance. They then trace the history of municipal bonds for water from the founding of Philadelphia in the eighteenth century to the bankruptcy of Detroit in the twenty-first. Along the way, they also explore
financial geography how water bills, water affordability, and the peculiarities of infrastructure finance create distinct geographies of water capital. Finally, they take a speculative look at alternative future states for our cities, our infrastructure, and our water.
水務基礎設施融資如何影響水費的高低、誰負擔得起水費，以及都市景觀的地理分布。
美國近年來「水危機」頻繁爆發，從密西根州 Flint 到密西西比州 Jackson 都是如此。與此同時，過去十年水費的漲幅遠遠超過雜貨、汽油或電力成本的上漲，導致越來越多美國人將水列入日益增加的「負擔不起的基本生活必需品」清單。
Martin Doyle、Lauren Patterson 與 Erika Smull 合著的《Water and Wall Street》，揭示了看似艱深冷僻的基礎設施融資領域，如何成為美國城市中這些及其他水務趨勢的根本原因，以及水務基礎設施如何形塑城市與郊區最基本的景觀。
作者首先說明水務基礎設施運作的基本原理，更重要的是，說明這些設施如何透過市政債券（municipal bonds）取得融資；市政債券是都市財政的支柱。接著，他們追溯水務市政債券的歷史，從十八世紀 Philadelphia 的建立，一直到二十一世紀 Detroit 的破產。
在此過程中，他們也探討金融地理學（financial geography）：水費、水的可負擔性，以及基礎設施融資的特殊性，如何共同形塑出各具特色的水資本地理。最後，他們以推測性的視角，探討我們的城市、基礎設施與水資源可能迎來的替代性未來。
Martin Doyle is a water scientist at Duke University. He is the author of
The Source and
Streams of Revenue, with Rebecca Lave (MIT Press).
Lauren Patterson is a water data scientist and researcher. Her work specializes in integrating and analyzing complex datasets that inform water, climate, and environmental policy and decision-making.
Erika Smull is trained in both civil engineering and infrastructure finance. She is currently a municipal bond investment professional focused on municipal credit, sustainable investing, and adaptation finance.
Martin Doyle 是 Duke University 的水科學家。他與 Rebecca Lave 合著《The Source》和《Streams of Revenue》（MIT Press 出版）。
Lauren Patterson 是水資料科學家兼研究人員。她的研究專長是整合與分析複雜資料集，為水資源、氣候與環境政策及決策提供依據。
Erika Smull 同時接受過土木工程與基礎設施融資訓練。目前她是市政債券投資專業人士，專注於市政信用、永續投資與調適融資。
