Our Aging Water Infrastructure

Over the course of this semester I've talked about pretty specific instances of water crisis in America. Issues that involve one town, one group of people, or one state. This may make it easy to push the idea of water scarcity or increasing water costs to the back of your mind. This concluding post is here to promote the fact that, as a nation, we are approaching a difficult hurdle in our water sector. Our water systems, like the water mains and the pipes that bring clean drinking water into homes, are facing a difficult crossroad. Many of the pipes that we rely on today were installed in the 19th and earlier 20th century. Up until now, these pipes have been fine, functioning exactly as needed. However, every product, even metal pipes, have a usable lifespan. We are quickly approaching the usable lifespan of our water pipes. There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks in the US per year, a number which may be difficult to comprehend. To put this into perspective, combining water main breaks and pipe leakages (from old age), the city of Atlanta is losing 31.4% of its water. Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh aren't much better, losing 28.7%, 26.5%, and 26% respectively. In 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers' gave the United States' water infrastructure a D+. As college students, the sight of this grade probably makes us recoil a little in fear.  If the US was taking 'water infrastructure' as an entrance to major course, it would have to retake it.

Water main break outside of UCLA
Image Courtesy of KTLA

How did we let this happen? The trend of ignoring our infrastructure is very popular in America. 'If it's not broke, don't fix it' is a common adage, and is unfortunately applied liberally when dealing with the systems that we rely on daily. If the bridge hasn't collapsed yet, why fix it? Similar calls are being made with our water systems. Until giant geysers spring out of the street, it is all too easy to ignore what is happening. It doesn't help that there really isn't the sort of money being spent on water infrastructure that there needs to be. The 2013 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers projected that over a trillion dollars needs to be spent to repair the aging systems that we rely on so much. 

Since raising utility costs is an unpopular political move, municipalities never have enough money to repair systems. At some point people are going to have to start picking up the slack, and when they do, utility bills are likely to see pretty substantial increases. A household of three could expect to be paying as much as $550 more per year than they currently do, just because of infrastructure repair. This increase is highly dependent on system size, which makes sense. Highly spread out systems (like in rural areas) will be facing a larger per-person cost than highly concentrated water systems (like cities), due to the fact that a longer length of pipe will need to be replaced per person. And even if all of the currently aging pipes are replaced, soon enough the next batch of pipes will be needing replacing. The costs keep coming. Our infrastructure is being ignored, and the longer we ignore it, the more it's going to cost us. 

Postponing the investment in water infrastructure only makes things worse. It increases the possibility of high-cost water main breaks, breaks which disrupt businesses and homes, damages property (think big sink holes), and has public health risks. When a main breaks, the water quality is compromised, as toxins are able to seep into the water that eventually comes out of taps. While it is not on the same level as the crisis we've seen in Flint or other cities with high concentrations of dangerous metals, long term exposure can still have a detrimental effect on our health.

Water main break in Scranton, PA leads to a very icy situation
Image Courtesy of citizensvoice.com

We have reached the so-called 'replacement era' for our water systems. As a Nation, we have two possible choices. Either take on the higher costs of water now to fix our poor pipes, or wait ten more years, when the costs will only be higher. It seems like a pretty easy choice, but we aren't making it. However we are getting closer and closer to a point where we cannot ignore it any longer, and the choice will be made for us. After all, it can be pretty hard to ignore a huge stream of water flooding your front lawn.