Aging Water System Infrastructure Endangering Cities and Communities Throughout the US
Bushites were not interested in updating infrastructure even though bridges fell, levees broke, and other tragedies associated with aging, failing infrastructure. But who holds these Bushites accountable? And the Republicans continue with their destructive and damaging mantra, "cut spending" especially for the common good. The GOP: no vision, no sense of responsibility, no integrity.
How many people wonder about their community's water delivery system....its age, its safety, etc.?
Well, reality is biting and aging infrastructure is threatening cities and communities throughout the US.
Michael Chelan reports for the NYTimes: "The new federal stimulus law provides $6 billion for water projects, with $2 billion of that directed to drinking water systems. But that money is only, well, a drop in the bucket: a report released last month by the E.P.A. estimated that the nation’s drinking water systems require an investment of $334.8 billion over the next two decades, with most of the money needed to improve transmission and distribution systems.
"The dangers of the nation’s aging plumbing are everywhere.
"This year water main breaks have stranded drivers on washed-out roads around the nation, caused a mudslide in California and flooded school libraries in Minnesota and Texas. Last month, just after Gov. David A. Paterson attended the opening of a new subway station in Lower Manhattan, service to the subway line was suspended when a water main that was installed in 1870 burst, flooding the tracks. A break in Niagara Falls, N.Y., spewed some 11 million gallons of water.
"Water officials say they believe that a handful of wooden water mains are still in use in South Dakota, Alaska and Pennsylvania, among other places. The old wood pipes offer a vivid reminder of the age and fragility of the nation’s drinking water systems, many of which rely heavily on old pipes that often remain out of sight and mind — until they burst.
And this is occurring in the 21st century! It boggles the mind.
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