To amass money to perhaps go to water infrastructure or, more probably, to go toward environmentalist water agenda which has less to do with people are more to do with other creatures. Blumenauer, the Congressman from the Portland Bike Transportation Alliance, calls his proposal, the Water Protection Reinvestment Act, a, “firewalled, dedicated trust fund for water infrastructure.” Of course, cities and municipalities charge customers through the nose for such infrastructure. Portland has one of, if not *the* highest water/sewage bills in the nation. Taxpayers are also billed for the big pipe infrastructure so we don’t hurt the fish with our sewage (don’t fish in the Willamette after a big rain, however).
Infrastructure IS important but that’s why people pay their taxes and bond debt. If local politicos are misspending (Sam? Randy?) that money on their pet projects (Loos? Kohler Coasters anyone?) then shouldn’t that activity cease and spending on infrastructure commence?
Blumenauer proposes a “firewalled, dedicated trust fund.” Sure, bud. So’s social security. We don’t believe this fund will actually be spent to build anything other than your favorite environmentalist agenda which has less to do with people and more to do with,
a) fish
b) shade for salmon (bye, bye property rights!)
c) funding for riverkeeper groups whose purpose is to keep the river off limits to people (unless you’re in a government approve kayak–take that grandma. Sorry, you can’t take your rascal in the kayak)
d) fish
e) life forms that don’t include humans
f) fish

Am I jaded? Oh, yes.
Most of the money will go through the “state revolving funds.” Officially, those are pools of money that state officials can use to build anything they want. We read here:

SRFs are pools of capital dedicated to financing public infrastructure formed through federal and state contributions. …SRFs allow states and localities to leverage the funds, which results in much more capital for new investment than the federal contribution alone.

Oh, great, more money for democrats to play with!
Look at Bow Tie’s funding mechanism for this program (which you already pay for) which he calls “simple, equitable and adequate for $10 billion dollars a year:”
1) A “fee” (read: tax) on “water based” beverages. People, that’s a tax on everything you drink.
2) Products that are disposed of in waste water. People, that’s everything you eliminate.
3) Pharmaceutical products (apparently because trace amounts are found in waste water)
4) Corporate profits (because they haven’t been stuck for higher taxes since, oh, at least last week)
As an added bonus, Bow Tie says these taxes will be at the manufacturing level so it will make them, “easy to administer (read: hide)” and “will have minimal impact on the consumer. (read: hide where the increase in your product is coming from).”

And look where Oregon is already spending its SRF money and it actually looks pretty decent, but, remember that’s not the future design of this fund. Nope. Municipal water folks (here) say Bow Tie has promised them:

Each year’s trust fund proceeds would be distributed to the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds and to new federal programs promoting green infrastructure, water system security, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Another bloated government program funded by a HUGE NEW TAX ON EVERYTHING YOU DRINK AND EVERYTHING YOU, UH, ELIMINATE.
What could possibly go wrong?
Dude, where’s my car?