Across the country on a daily basis, some sort of water pipe problem is being fixed. The problem is that those repairs only scratch the surface of the reality that lies under our feet and the quality of the infrastructure that delivers untold billions of gallons of water to municipalities every year. Here in New York, far from the faucet in our offices and apartments, the Delaware Aqueduct carries water to us in a 13.5 foot diameter pipe. The problem with it though is that it is slowly disintegrating and causing problems for some upstate residents.
From RawStory:
Two hours north of New York City, a mile-long stream and a marsh the size of a football field have mysteriously formed along a country road. They are such a marvel that people come from miles around to drink the crystal-clear water, believing it is bubbling up from a hidden natural spring.
The truth is far less romantic: The water is coming from a cracked 70-year-old tunnel hundreds of feet below ground, scientists say.
The tunnel is leaking up to 36 million gallons a day as it carries drinking water from a reservoir to the big city. It is a powerful warning sign of a larger problem around the country: The infrastructure that delivers water to the nation's cities is badly aging and in need of repairs.
The Environmental Protection Agency says utilities will need to invest more than $277 billion over the next two decades on repairs and improvements to drinking water systems. Water industry engineers put the figure drastically higher, at about $480 billion.
That is a huge chunk of change and as the AP made mention, the cost will be dumped onto the ratepayers. Or at least that is what many different utilities told Colleen Long when she wrote the article. The piece continues to tell of the costs to many cities and the dire situations that occur when pipes ultimately fail. However, there is another way that is not mentioned.
Way back in the 1930s F.D.R. helped put people back to work and one of the agencies that did that was the WPA. If the government took a pro-active stance and copied Roosevelt in order to fix our utilities, we would be putting a lot of people to work and not making the public pay for it out of the own pockets. Instead of wasting money on useless fighting in Iraq, we could put some of that money to good use right here where we live.
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