Water infrastructureU.S. water infrastructure is in a serious state of disrepair

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) handed in its grades on the U.S. water infrastructure. The grades are not as bad as one would fear, but the reason for them remaining stubbornly low  has not changed: lack of funds.

Circle of Bluereports that the distressingly low grades are a result of delays in maintenance and underinvestment in infrastructure.

Since the last report was issued in 2009, drinking water and wastewater in the United States have improved somewhat, with their grade improving from a D- to D. Inland waterways and levees received a D- and dams also received a D. Since the ASCE started giving out grades in 1998, none of the categories has received a grade above  a D, indicating that America’s water systems have remained in a state of disrepair  for a long time.

“Once the infrastructure is in the ground, it starts deteriorating,” Eger told Circle of Blue. Many of those pipes have been in the ground since before Prohibition, and utility companies are not replacing them fast enough. Some systems are on a 200 to 300 year replacement cycle, Eger added.

According to David Sedlack, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the only thing that may have changed since ASCE has started testing the nation’s water systems, is that there is less money than there was when the grading began.

The recession has cut revenues for many utilities, which has resulted in delayed maintenance. In 2009 the fiscal stimulus injected $6 billion into two federal water loan programs, but since then only $1 billion has been put in on a yearly basis.

“We’re seeing the long-term effects of a system that is out of balance,” Sedlack said. Those effects include an estimated 240,000 water main breaks each year and nearly 14,000 dams —  or one out of every seven dams — in the United States rated as “high hazard,” meaning that the flush of water from a broken dam would likely kill people.

Lobby groups and utility companies say that the U.S. government has neglected to spend money on water infrastructure, and as a result infrastructure spending and federal mandates on water quality are being forced on taxpayers and consumers.

After the Clean Water Act was instituted, U.S. taxpayers were forced to pay more than half the money for municipal sewage plants, but federal investments dried up eventually, along with loan programs.

Today, money must be invested in repairing piping systems across the nation. According to an estimate by the American Water Works Association, $1 trillion would be needed between now and 2038 to replace just the pipes in the U.S. water system.

The majority of money for repairs currently comes from state and local governments, meaning that ratepayers have to pay bills which are subject to increase year after year. The lack of funding is so significant that if Congress were to triple the amount of money it invests in water infrastructure, it would not be enough to make a meaningful difference.

There are ways to increase federal funding, according to ASCE. Portland, Chicago, Louisville, and San Francisco have all found ways to help their water management systems.

Portland has built floating pipes which are attached to the bottom of Lake Oswego and sloped so gravity eliminates the needs for a pumping system. In San Francisco, biofuel is being created from grease that is recovered from the city’s sewer system.