Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers provides an assessment of the nation’s infrastructure in its Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The 2013 water and wastewater grades are in, and the results are grim: a D grade. Unsettlingly, this is actually an improvement from 2009, when our water and wastewater infrastructure barely passed with a D-.
Studies like these make it more than clear that we need to invest billions of dollars in our infrastructure over the next decades—but where to find the money is less obvious. And while history shows that infrastructure is particularly important in maintaining economic growth and strength as a world leader, levels of public investment have been falling since the 1970s.
To solve our water infrastructure problems, we need a paradigm shift of our understanding of true water costs, and to clearly identify the cost of sustainably treating, delivering and collecting water and wastewater in the long term.
