The latest NY Times article on water infrastructure does a good job of demonstrating the seemingly impossible issues between the great need for reinvestment in water and sewer infrastructure, the reluctance of the government owners of those systems to actually pay for that investment, and the increasing consequences of infrastructure failure.  The article focuses on Mr. George Hawkins, whom the author describes as a well-educated environmental activist who wound up as the general manager for one of the largest utilities in the US in Washington DC.  The article shows how Hawkins has done much to point out the obvious to the city’s leaders: that our capitol city’s water and sewer infrastructure built over 100 years ago is decaying to a point where line failures are a daily routine causing everything from loss of water service to raw sewage spilling into the Potomac River.

Yet, there in Washington DC, one of the most affluent cities in the US, the push back from local politicians and citizens has been as severe as anything we’ve ever described on this blog.  That nobody wants to pay for the infrastructure issues even when it affects their own community is the major point that readers should take away from this article.  As we’ve said before right here at the StepWise blog, the cost of addressing the infrastructure issue is enormous.  In many cases, communities are relying for critical water and sewer services from a set of pipelines installed between 50 and 100 years ago.  There is a $335 billion price tag out there just for our drinking water systems, it’s a bigger price tag when you factor in the sewer systems.

The cost may be “federally-sized” when added up, but the reality is that the total cost is the summation of those for thousands of communities across the country.  Water and sewer infrastructure is a local issue requiring local responsibility and local funding.  It is not a federal issue, nor should it be seen as such.  To those communities who address their infrastructure issues smartly – like not waiting until the entire system is in cataclysmic failure – the reward is manageable costs over the long run.  To those who are less prepared, the consequences are potentially large.  Flooded homes and businesses, insurance losses, sewage backups, service losses, sinkholes, etc.  Every community has a choice to make with respect to infrastructure investment.   Waiting for the end is probably not the best option.