Don't read this before you eat lunch!

For as long as we can remember, tourists heading for Mexico have been warned: ''Don't drink the water!''

Well, if you're planning to fill up a couple of jugs with tap water in Los Angeles or San Diego before you head to Tijuana, you might want to think twice.

According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, L.A. is poised to announce plans to recycle 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to ''drinking standards'' by 2019.

A number of other major metropolitan areas facing water shortages are moving in the same direction: San Diego recently approved a pilot project to pump treated wastewater into its local reservoir, and Miami-Dade County, Florida, is planning a system that will pump 23 million gallons of recycled wastewater into an aquifer that will feed wells in the area.

''Treated wastewater'' is a polite way of saying ''sewage.''

This euphemism probably was coined by the same guy who came up with ''certified pre-owned vehicle'' to describe a used car with 98,000 miles on the odometer and cigarette burns on the front seat, currently being offered by your local dealer for the highly discounted price of $12,500 (the warranty expires as soon as you pull off the lot).

Wastewater recycling initiatives have been put forward periodically in recent years, as major population centers have continued to expand while water resources remain, well, stagnant. These projects usually have been pushed off the agenda by what the Journal calls ''the yuck factor'' -- critics labeled them ''toilet to tap'' proposals.

Not any more. The rate at which demand is outpacing supply apparently has hit a tipping point that renders the ''yuck factor'' irrelevant.

Besides, even if ultra-hygienic types in L.A. and San Diego manage to pull together a movement to beat back the sewage recycling plans, they still will be ingesting treated wastewater: 400 million gallons of it is discharged into the Colorado River every day.

Of course, Angelenos always will have the option of jumping into their corn-powered vehicles and taking a four-hour excursion on the freeway to purchase a month's supply of bottled water at $5 per gallon jug.

Try not to notice the friendly convenience store clerk filling the jugs with a hose behind the Quik-Chek.

China's Road-building Investment in Congo

In developed nations, access to major roadways is taken for granted. We have six-lane dual carriageways, networks of precisely paved arteries cutting in and out of big cities, and transcontinental highways stretching for thousands of miles. Even those shady side streets and pot-holed back alleys are there when you need them--in my case, when I'm lost (regularly) and need to make a K-turn.

But a recent article in The Washington Post details the lack of highway infrastructure in a growing, but largely undeveloped country, Congo (formerly Zaire). However, a mutually (though perhaps not equally) beneficial road-building deal between the Congolese government and China will bring new transportation opportunities to mining cities in the north and south of Congo, connecting them to western ports. The Chinese, in return, will create its own lucrative inroad into the African nation's rich mining industry.

While this business agreement may seem a world away to economic developers who can proudly tout and sell their extensive and upgraded transportation routes, the anecdotal information in the Post's article is also eye-opening. It details how the grading and smoothening of one, 30-mile dirt road leading to the village of Kilongo has brought beer, electronics, and prostitutes, to name a few, um, "goods" to the once-isolated community.

Check out the full story for a good read. Here's one fascinating stat: "Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, with vast natural resources, has less than 3,000 miles of paved road. Virginia, by comparison, has about 70,000 miles."

Emerald City

They broke ground earlier this year for the headquarters of Masdar City, which according to its sponsors will be ''the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city fully powered by renewable energy.''

Masdar City is the $22 billion showpiece of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven United Arab Emirates. It will be constructed over seven phases and is due to be completed by 2016.

The headquarters building is the first phase, slated to be finished by 2010. Its builders say it will be the world's first large-scale, mixed-use positive energy building, producing more energy than it consumes. The complex will utilize sustainable materials and feature integrated wind turbines, outdoor air quality monitors and one of the world's largest building-integrated solar energy arrays.

Masdar's headquarters is being designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture of Chicago, which was selected by a global jury of seven world-reknowned design and urban planning experts from a field of 159 competitors. The Chicago firm emerged from 15 finalists who had met the sustainability criteria set for the Masdar project, including water and wastewater efficiency, indoor environmental quality, zero carbon emission, and carbon footprint reduction.

This is an impressive project, and Abu Dhabi deserves a tip of the hat for doing its part in the sustainable development movement. But if the Emirate is going to boast about its plans to reduce the size of its carbon footprint, we think it would be useful to measure the foot:

-- Abu Dhabi currently sits on 9.5 percent of global crude oil proven reserves, about 98 billion barrels.

-- Abu Dhabi is the world's third largest oil exporter, behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia.

-- Abu Dhabi is earning approximately $400 million per day in oil and gas revenues. It is surging ahead with a $20 billion program -- roughly the amount it has earmarked for Masdar City -- to expand its crude oil production capacity from a current level of 2.8 million barrels-a-day to up to 4 million barrels-a-day by 2015.

Extra-credit quiz question: What is going to have a bigger impact on Abu Dhabi's carbon footprint during the next seven years, Masdar City or a 40% increase in crude oil production?

When the Masdar headquarters opens in 2010, no doubt the global trade press will be invited for a VIP tour. We're going to wait until the landscaping on the project is completed. We even have a few ''decorating'' tips, which we now offer free of charge to the Emirate:

No zero-carbon city is complete without a synthetic North Pole and a couple of rain forests, which can be populated by cloning some of the hundreds of species that have disappeared in the recently completed Century of Big Oil.

Give us a comfortable chair under a lush canopy of trees, a bottle of Stoli chilled in a bucket of Arctic ice, and a couple of Siberian tigers to look at, and we're there.

Happy Birthday, Spike

On May 1, 1931, President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C. and the lights went on in the Empire State Building for the first time.

For a nation mired in the depths of a Great Depression, the world's tallest building was much more than an engineering marvel. It was a 1,472-foot-high beacon of hope.

Even before the remains of the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel were completely cleared from the 83,860-square-foot site on Fifth Avenue, an army that would grow to 3,400 construction workers prepared to lay the framework for what would become a 102-story, 37 million cubic foot behemoth.

These were the fortunate few who had meaningful work when so many of their neighbors were idle. They threw themselves into the task, logging 7 million man hours in a year, working through Sundays and holidays. It was almost as if they thought the project would disappear if they put down their hammers and pails and took a break.

The building rose at the incredible rate of 4.5 stories per week, facilitated by a special rail line that connected the building site directly to steel mills in Pennsylvania. The steel was still warm when it was riveted into place on the mammoth structure rising over Manhattan.

The interior lobby was lined with ceiling-high marble brought over from Europe on ships. From the sixth floor to the top, the exterior was covered with Indiana limestone and granite, trimmed with aluminum and chrome-nickel steel. Even using the best materials, the total cost came in at less than half of the original $50 million estimate.

It took less than 14 months to build the Empire State Building.

It is hard to reconcile that accomplishment with the current state of affairs in the nation's largest city. Most of the large-scale civic projects in New York are suspended in limbo, tangled up in petty disputes and a jungle of red tape.

Whether it's a new train station, an expanded convention center, or the complex planned for the World Trade Center site, the only thing that seems to be rising is the estimated cost of construction, as politicians and developers jockey for position and bicker over who is to blame for the delays.

The city that has always astounded us with the audacity of its dreams no longer seems able to summon the willpower to make them a reality. New York has lost its mojo.

Message to New Yorkers: You don't need a subway map to find it. If you have temporarily forgotten what is possible when spirit, grit and imagination are joined in common purpose, there is a powerful and majestic reminder nearby.

It is standing there in front of you, right where King Kong left it. All you have to do is look up.

Recession What?

These days it's hard to stay up on the news without being subjected to talk of recession this and recession that. Now, there's no arguing that the U.S. economy has fallen on trying times, but it's nice to temper the bad with the good for some perspective. So in the spirit of optimism, I thought it would be a refreshing change of pace to veer away from talk of our "doomed" economy and highlight two recent major investment projects that promise to bring thousands of jobs to those in need.

Well-known for its troubled economy, Michigan has been working hard over the past few years to breathe life into a fresh new economy, one that is much less dependent on its automotive roots and more focused on high-tech and life sciences companies. Progressive incentive programs such as the 21st Century Jobs Fund have been helping with the transition.

In April, Michigan residents had much reason to rejoice when the state scored one of the largest non-automotive deals in MichiganÕs history--at a time when the stateÕs unemployment rate is the highest in the nation at 7.2%. Thanks to a $330 million investment by life sciences company MPI Research Inc., Michigan stands to gain 3,300 new direct jobs and an additional 3,300 indirect jobs over the next 15 years. The company, which provides comprehensive pre-clinical research and development services, plans to more than double its current one-million-square-foot facility in Mattawan, MI, as well as launch new operations in Kalamazoo, MI at two closed Pfizer facilities in downtown Kalamazoo that Pfizer is donating to the city. Assistance provided by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) helped convince the company to choose Michigan over competing sites in the U.S. and China.

Based on the MEDCÕs recommendation, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority board approved a state tax credit valued at $86 million over 15 years for MPI. The MEDC is also recommending the downtown Kalamazoo site receive designation as a tax-free Renaissance Zone and that a $2 million grant previously awarded to Western Michigan University be used instead for redevelopment activities at the Kalamazoo site. Through the transportation economic development fund, the Michigan Department of Transportation will chip in and provide funding for improvements at or near the I-94 interchange that are necessary to accommodate the traffic generated by MPIÕs expansion. In addition, local match requirements will be provided by the village of Mattawan. The city of Kalamazoo is also lending a helping hand by way of $150,000 toward environmental due diligence and infrastructure analysis.

The MPI Research expansion is one of five economic development projects the governor announced in April. In all, they are expected to create and retain a total of 9,013 Michigan jobs.

Meanwhile, down south, the Tar Heel State will soon see 900 new, high-paying jobs as a result of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy's recent investment promise. The company, which could receive more than $25 million in state incentives for new job creation, plans to invest $704 million to add manufacturing, training, simulation, and testing facilities at its 1,300-acre campus in New Hanover County, NC, near Wilmington. Part of the expansion could also include a commercial uranium enrichment facility. A joint venture of General Electric and Hitachi, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy already employs more than 2,000 people in the county.

While wages for all the new jobs will vary, the overall average wage will be about $85,000 a year not including benefits--more than double the New Hanover County average of $33,226.

Unfortunately, these new jobs won't fix skyrocketing gas and food costs, but it is success stories such as these that will hopefully pave the way to brighter economic times for the United States. These stories also reinforce the need for states, and the nation as a whole, to focus economic development energies (and monies) on transitioning to a primarily knowledge-based economy to help our great nation become great again.

A river runs through it

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 started a national conversation about levees.

Suddenly, a lot of people who couldn't tell the difference between a levee and a highway berm wanted to know if these manmade barriers were high enough and strong enough to withstand the next big wave from Mother Nature.

While most of the attention focused on the plight of New Orleans, levees along the flood-prone Mississippi River also drew their share of the national spotlight. The Army Corps of Engineers marched up and down the big river, surveying tools at the ready.

They didn't have much to do in Davenport, Iowa. Like just about every other town on the banks of the Mississippi, Davenport (population 100,000) has a flood problem. What Davenport doesn't have is a levee.

As a fascinating story in today's Wall Street Journal details, the city fathers in Davenport have wrestled with the question of whether to build a levee for almost 50 years -- they even received authorization from Congress in 1970 to build one -- and have finally decided that they are better off without one.

Instead, the city bought out low-lying homes and businesses and tailored its waterfront development plans to activities and structures that will not be disrupted by the occasionally unruly river, but rather will be enhanced by its magnificent presence.

Today, Davenport's waterfront includes a downtown park with an historic bandshell and a minor league ballpark protected by its own floodwall. A large art museum was built atop a flood-ready parking lot. A new skateboard park was placed next to the river -- when the river rises, the boarders just scoot uptown and wait for the crest to pass. A few passes with mops and brooms, and everyone is showing off their moves again.

According to the Journal report, the river-friendly planning has been so successful that Davenport and its neighbor on the other side of the Mississippi, Rock Island, IL, are teaming up to develop another stretch of riverfront with special landscaping and materials that will allow the water to come in and make cleanups easier. They call their plan RiverVision, and are confident that the attractive waterfront also will draw new businesses and residences to their downtown areas.

Davenport and Rock Island have asked for $10 million in federal funding for RiverVision. If you think that's too much, consider this: It would cost at least $55 million to build a levee on just one side of Old Man River.

Levees? We don't need no stinking levees!

The Hopeful Hopi Tribe

Today, an article out of Arizona caught my attention for a couple of reasons. First, I don't often come across economic development news stories that highlight the great plans and ideas of Native Americans. Secondly, when I do come across such news, it usually details the construction of a casino on an American Indian reservation.

That's why this article about the Hopi tribe's ambitious and inspiring development plans propelled me to blog. Rather than opening a casino, which has become a money-making trend it seems, the Hopi tribe is opening the "Gateway to Hopi Land," which includes a business park, motel, office space, and more. It sounds like a smart, comprehensive economic development plan to me.

A breath of fresh air from coal country

Earth Day has everyone thinking "green" this week, so we thought this would be the perfect time to talk about a coal mine in Wales.

No, we're not going to dig up the tired old "canary in a coal mine" analogy to underline the dire environmental condition of our planet. In this case, the coal mine is the canary, and it's singing a happy tune.

The last active deep coal mine in Wales shut down recently. This may be bad news for the miners, but it's good news for the rest of us, especially when one takes a trip along the "Renewable Energy Route Map" that the Welsh Assembly Government is busy implementing.

Tapping into a rich and creative vein of alternative energy research and development, the country in the southwest corner of the United Kingdom is determined to make a huge impact in "clean and green" technology.

Wales may be a relatively small place, but its planning is big and bold. It intends to get all its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and to become a net exporter of clean energy within the same timeframe. Projects moving forward include:

-- A 10-mile dam stretching from the south of Cardiff, Wales to Somerset in England that would harness the immense tidal power of the Severn estuary. Experts estimate that the $17 billion project, which was first proposed in 1849 and briefly discussed in the 1980s, could eventually supply up to 5% of the U.K.'s electricity.

-- The world's first "tribrid" buses. These triple-hybrids are powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells, batteries and ultra-capacitors, linked by sophisticated computer controls that constantly monitor energy requirements of the vehicle and adjust power accordingly. The prototype, a 16-passenger bus based on the commercial Iveco design, is expected to have a range of 150 miles per charge.

-- A car you can park in your hallway. This one-meter-wide, two-passenger concept vehicle, appropriately called Narrow Car, will get 100 mpg, achieve speeds of up to 85 mph, and, not surprisingly, "leans into corners like a motorbike." In case you are wondering, the passenger sits behind the driver, so a narrow waist is not a requirement to drive the Narrow Car.

The Welsh Assembly also has mandated that beginning in 2011 all new buldings in Wales be constructed to zero carbon standards. It's Energy Route Map is accompanied by an equally bold introduction:

"The Assembly Government fully recognizes the importance of minimizing future global warming and is very determined to show how Wales, as a small but clever nation, can be at the global forefront of the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Clever indeed. Jolly good show, Wales. Happy Earth Day.

U.S. Bumper to Bumper Blues

With the familiar dread of my 5pm drive home on the New Jersey Garden State Parkway hovering, I have decided to blog about the state of U.S. highway infrastructure. A gloomy topic on a sunny day.

Yesterday, I received Walker Industrial's spring newsletter called "Outlook," which provides a brief, but potent picture of the traffic and roadway problems facing the nation right now. With so many relocating and expanding companies looking for easy access to transport routes for their shipping and distribution centers, I found it troubling, though perhaps not surprising, that our major cities and ports are suffering from the severe congestion of their surrounding highways, many of which are operating at 90% or more of their traffic capacity. Almost the whole stretch of Interstate 95 from New York City to Richmond, VA is exceeding its capacity, as are highway connections snaking around Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta, among others. Road congestion is also slowing up port activity in New York, New Jersey, and southern California, according to the Walker report.

Here is the kicker: in 2005, President Bush commissioned a team to examine the U.S. highway infrastructure problems. Three years later, the findings still have not been released--that's a long time to be sitting in gridlock!

Brother, can you spare a tank of Exxon Supreme?

Do you have a tough time deciding whether to order that side of fries with lunch or put those nickels aside in case gas prices rise before your evening commute?

Well, if your name was Rex Tillerson, you'd have a much wider range of choices.

Rex is the chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., now the largest U.S. company based on its market capitalization of $479 billion. If Exxon Mobil were a country, it would have one of the ten largest economies in the world.

With gas prices rapidly approaching $4 per gallon and most of us non-CEOs drilling an extra hole in our belts to avoid running on fumes, this probably wasn't a good time for Exxon Mobil to announce Rex's new compensation package.

Like the oil "bidness" in general, Rex is having a very good year.

His annual remuneration now totals $16.7 million, up almost 29 percent from last year's personal bonanza. The one day I paid attention in Mrs. Russell's algebra class tells me this is roughly equivalent to the percentage increase in the price of Regular Unleaded during the past 12 months.

According to wire reports, Rex is getting $1.87 million in base salary and a $3.36 million bonus this year.

The rest of the T-Rex sized compensation for the Exxon Mobil chief is expressed in the increased valuation of his vested stock grants and pension. Presumably, this shields Rex's Everest of swag from those nasty types at the IRS who are busy right now preparing to audit you for the $20 health-care deduction you took for antacids while preparing your tax returns this week.

Now, we know what you're thinking: At least ol' Rex has to pull up at the pump in Irving, TX, and fill up the 40-gallon tank in his Rolls side by side with all the Honda Civic and Ford Focus-driving customers.

Sorry to disappoint you, but Rex's deal also provides $41,000 for "personal use of corporate aircraft."

However, in an apparent bow to public relations, Exxon Mobil announced that it is discontinuing its practice of reimbursing top execs for their country-club memberships.

Don't even think about heading down to Irving and demanding a charitable donation from Mr. Tillerson: Exxon also is required to provide more than $220,000 this year for "security" to protect Rex.