The Risks of an Aging Water Infrastructure

Every day, nearly 1500 water mains break across the country. Most occur without any noticeable impact. But there's a greater impact than just the inconvenience of going without water for a few hours. These breaks are cause for alarm and pose a significant threat.

Last month, a burst water pipe shut down a plant in Fort Worth, Texas that produces F-16 and F-35 fighter jets. According to the Star-Telegram, the plant uses over 300 million gallons of water per year and the pipes that provide the necessary water for its operations are over 20 years old. Going without water brings the plant to a screeching halt and causes delays and additional expense for our military production.

What happened in Fort Worth should be eye-opening. While it turned out to be a minor disruption for only a few days, we face significant risks across the country as our aging water infrastructure begins to crumble. And in some areas, the water infrastructure is over 200 years old. Industry relies on water and so do we.
Beyond the economic consequences, there are also environmental impacts when the pipes carry waste water. Billions of gallons of raw sewage are dumped every year as these old pipes burst. The sewage ends up in our groundwater, our streams and rivers, and requires us to exhaust additional energy and resources to clean it to drinking standards.

In a 1941 article titled “Water Supply Facilities and National Defense” in the American Water Works Association Journal, then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover noted that our water infrastructure is imperative for security because of the “strategic position they occupy in keeping the wheels of industry turning and in preserving the health and morale of the American populace.”

Old pipes are not the only infrastructure that need help – over 15,000 dams are rated “potentially high hazard” by the Army Corps of Engineers and need to be repaired. Remember the consequences of the broken dam in Lake Delhi, Iowa when hundreds of homes and businesses flooded in July and factor that by thousands across the country.

The cost of repairing and replacing our water infrastructure is billions of dollars. But the cost of waiting is even greater.

We must invest heavily in our infrastructure as part of our national security strategy in the 21st Century. As J. Edgar Hoover said 60 years ago, “In this great undertaking, water supply facilities occupy a key position, and, therefore, it is essential that they operate without interruption.”

We don't have to wait for the federal government to act – we can act locally. You can invest in water saving devices for your home to use less water on a daily basis – look for EPA Water Sense appliances like toilets and faucets, and replace your sprinklers with more efficient rotary nozzles. Check with your water provider for rebates when doing so. And support your water provider as they seek additional funding to make the necessary upgrades to your system. For the cost today is far less than what consequences of inaction will be in the future.

Douglas Campbell is the Education Coordinator for the Douglas County Water Resource Authority (www.dcwater.org) and a fellow for the Truman National Security Project.