The Aging Water Infrastructure: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

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The Aging Water Infrastructure: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

The United States’ water infrastructure needs an overhaul, and the cost of doing so is climbing rapidly. Where will the money come from?

The sad shape of many of our highways, bridges, and transit systems is very evident as we dodge potholes and hope that our train will eventually arrive. However, one of the most critical aspects of the United States’ aging infrastructure is literally buried underground, out of sight and, usually, out of mind. It is often only when failures occur that we are reminded of how much we take for granted our access to safe drinking water.

When economist Robert Gordon categorized the three phases of industrial revolution, he designated the first phase as the period between 1750 and 1830, when the steam engine, mechanized cotton spinning, and railroads were invented. He defined the second phase as the period from 1879 to 1900, which saw the invention of running water with indoor plumbing along with electricity and the internal combustion engine. Clearly, both of these phases ignited periods of strong productivity growth—and the third phase, the computer and Internet revolution, has sparked productivity increases as well (although Gordon himself has been less than impressed with the third phase’s productivity potential).1

Many of the critical inventions of these successive periods of productivity growth are assets that are constantly renewed as old or outdated equipment is replaced by newer and better models. However, inventions that required substantial infrastructure to build, such as railway lines and water pipes, have typically been put into place and then largely ignored. The emphasis has generally been on expansion, not replacement and upgrade. Yet the tendency to leave older infrastructure alone may be a luxury we can no longer afford when it comes to one of the United States’ most important resources: water.

To supply the nation’s homes and businesses with water, the United States depends on a country-wide network of aging underground pipes, many of which are reaching, or have exceeded, the end of their useful life. The number of water main breaks across the country, from Syracuse to Los Angeles, is staggering: 240,000 per year, according to one estimate.2 The direct cost of these leaks is pegged at $2.6 billion per year.3 And the total cost to the economy is not limited to the cost of the lost water. Beyond households, most economic activities, from hospitals and schools to factories and farms, depend on reliable access to safe water. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that, while the cumulative cost to households from degrading water/wastewater infrastructure will add up to $59 billion (in 2010 dollars) over the period between 2013 and 2020, the cost to business will be more than double that, at $147 billion.4

It is clear that the country’s water infrastructure needs an overhaul and that the dollar cost of doing so is climbing rapidly. What is unclear, however, is where the money will come from. The need for infrastructure investment could mean a continued increase in water prices—which would more closely align the price of water with its value. Innovations in technology, public policy, and funding are the need of the hour.

SAFEGUARDING THE WATER SUPPLY

As the nation’s community water systems were being established, protecting drinking water sourced from large water bodies became a growing concern, as the quantity of wastewater being disposed into water bodies was on the rise. In 1914, the US Public Health Service adopted and enforced drinking water standards for the first time.11 The objective was to protect interstate travelers and to contain the spread of disease. By 1915, the use of chlorine to treat water was common across the United States, resulting in a significant drop in water-borne diseases.

Protecting drinking water took precedence over wastewater treatment. For instance, in 1924, more than 88 percent of the population in cities with more than 100,000 residents continued to pipe untreated wastewater into water bodies.12 It was not until the passage of the Water Pollution Control Act in 1948 that the federal government first entered a sector historically controlled by state and local governments. Since then, federal influence over water quality has grown, with the establishment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 1970 marking a major milestone.

The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974, are the two primary federal statutes addressing water quality in the United States. Both are administered by the Office of Water at the USEPA.13 The Clean Water Act (CWA) is a pollution control program that makes it illegal to discharge any pollutant from sources such as pipes or ditches into waterways without a permit. Individual homes do not need permits if they are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge. However, the facilities that process wastewater from those homes are required to have a permit if they discharge into surface water. The CWA also gives the USEPA the authority to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.14

The Safe Drinking Water Act was enacted in response to growing concerns over the use of organic chemicals to treat drinking water in the years after World War II. This act gives the USEPA the authority to set legally enforceable standards for public water systems. These standards prescribe acceptable levels for more than 90 contaminants that may occur in water that can adversely impact public health, including disinfectants (such as chlorine), disinfection byproducts (such as bromate), inorganic chemicals (such as lead), microorganisms (such as those that cause Legionnaire’s Disease), organic chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs]), and radionuclides (such as uranium).15

While the rules are set at the national level, monitoring generally takes place at a lower level. For the CWA, all but four states are authorized to implement compliance monitoring.16 For drinking water, the USEPA and the states depend primarily on the analysis of water samples collected by public water systems themselves.17

Water prices worldwide

The United States, on average, uses far more water than Europe and at a lower price. The per-capita water footprint in the United States is slightly more than one-and-a-half times that in France and double the footprint per capita in Germany.36 The larger American water footprint is closely linked to the fact that water in the United States generally costs less than in Europe (figure 3). In drought-stricken California, for example, water costs approximately $40 to $70 a month—less than the cost of cell phone services or cable television (both of which are comparatively cheaper in Europe).37Figure 3

THE PATH FORWARD

How do we address the need for 21st-century water infrastructure? To do so, the country will likely need to move past 20th-century solutions to a 21st-century way of thinking to help ensure resilient and sustainable  access to safe drinking water for everyone . However, this will probably be a challenge, not only because of our increasing population and the resulting competition for water, but because of the need to maintain and expand the infrastructure that makes safe drinking water possible.

The bottom line is that there is no simple solution.

The bottom line is that there is no simple solution. We will need to scale innovative funding solutions and technologies, as well as adopt public policies that promote innovation in the water sector. With regard to innovative funding, we have seen the emergence of green bonds, such as the 100-year bonds used by DC Water,40 and public-private partnerships, such as that in Bayonne, New Jersey.41 Technologies such as predictive analytics (to identify potential asset failures and accelerate repairs) and in situ underground pipe repair are also being adopted. Finally, customer engagement efforts to increase conservation are likely to be part of the solution.

Credits

Written by: Dr. Patricia Buckley, Lester Gunnion, Will Sarni

Cover image by: ILOVEDUST

Read more at: Deloitte

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