The United States’ water infrastructure spans an amazing distance – nearly 1.5 million miles of piping in all, including 640,000 miles of sewer lines.¹ Those pipes, constructed of materials ranging from cast and ductile iron to polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene, deliver water to more than 300 million citizens as they work, play, and raise families.

Our nation has the world’s largest economy, helping to ensure a high standard of living and opportunity, but it also produces a lot of waste. More than 16,000 sanitation facilities across the country operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, processing wastewater to remove dangerous chemical and organic contaminants.² The average sanitation facility processes 68 million gallons of water per day, preventing those contaminants from harming our communities and environment.³

Effective sanitation systems and ready access to clean water are inextricably linked to the health of our nation and its economy. “We recognize that you can’t have strong cities, strong families, and a strong America unless you take care of your infrastructure,” said Douglas Palmer, mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.⁴

The Conference of Mayors recently identified water infrastructure needs as its number one concern.⁵ “Water is the new oil as a problem and how precious it is,” Palmer explained. New Jersey uses 3 million gallons of water daily, he said, “and we need that water in reserve because we’re almost at a crisis situation.”

The country’s clean water infrastructure can be thought of almost as a circulatory system. Rather than the blood that keeps our bodies alive, our local utilities pump the water that keeps our society functional. Pipes act as arteries, carrying fresh water to be used by people and businesses, then as veins, carrying dirty water away. Wastewater treatment facilities serve as the kidneys and liver, cleansing impurities and waste. Like the circulatory system, water infrastructure is largely out of sight; like the circulatory system, it is largely out of mind until it breaks down.

While easy enough to understand, that attitude is rapidly proving to be untenable when it comes to protecting our pipes. When we neglect our bodies’ health, we get sick. When we neglect our national infrastructure, it breaks down. Both scenarios can result in serious and sometimes dangerous consequences.

All it takes is a look at recent headlines to show that national infrastructure protection is worth taking seriously. “People understand bridges when they fall down,” commented James McLaughlin of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. “What they sometimes don’t understand is that underground there’s a whole other type of infrastructure that’s falling apart and collapsing too.” ⁶

That collapse is coming on fast, as the pipes that keep America’s water circulating and the treatment facilities that keep it clean are nearing, and sometimes passing, the end of their useful lives.
Construction materials, soil composition, climate, and capacity pressures all affect the durability of wastewater piping, which typically lasts about 50 years. A 1998 survey determined the average American wastewater pipe was about 33 years old.⁷

Although a pipe’s lifespan can range anywhere from 15 years to well over a century, even older, more durable materials are hitting their age limits. The cast iron pipes installed in the 19th century can last for about 100 years; many are already past that mark. Meanwhile, some eastern cities depend on pipes nearly as old as the U.S. Constitution, and some 72,000 miles of pipes are already more than 80 years old.⁸

As the National Research Council noted in a recent publication, “these different types of pipes, installed during different time periods, will all be reaching the end of their expected life spans in the next 30 years.” ⁹

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which recently evaluated the state of U.S. clean water systems, gave the nation’s clean water infrastructure a D- rating. “There are a number of reasons for the quality of the nation’s infrastructure,” said ASCE president-elect David Mongan. “Probably the single most comprehensive reason is simply the age of our infrastructure.” ¹⁰ ASCE estimates that we have a current need for more than $185 billion in nationwide clean water improvements.¹¹

Echoing ASCE’s concerns, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee recently warned that “Without increased investment in wastewater infrastructure, in less than a generation, the U.S. could lose much of the gains it made thus far in improving water quality, and wind up with dirtier water than existed prior to the enactment of the 1972 Clean Water Act.” ¹²

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