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M ost Americans get their household water from a public utility. But municipal
utilities are struggling to come up with the money needed to meet federal clean
water standards and to maintain and modernize our pipes and water systems.
What’s Wrong with Our Pipes? do not have the funding needed to update and maintain
Some of our water treatment and distribution systems their water systems.
date back to the early 20th century. About 72,000 miles
of our main distribution pipes are more than 80 years Across the country, cash-strapped municipalities have
old.1 In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers started selling off their water and sewer systems to mul-
gave the nation’s water and wastewater infrastructure tinational water companies, with hopes that they would
a D-minus rating, the lowest rating of all types of infra- manage the systems more efficiently and finance up-
structure.2 grades that systems need to meet new federal regulations.
Some cities have started selling off this community asset,
As our pipes and treatment systems age, more and more something invested in by generations of local taxpayers,
sewage spills into our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans, for an infusion of money to help their dwindling budgets.
causing serious public health hazards. For example, sew-
age overflows and malfunctioning treatment plants cause
beach closings across the country. The year 2007 saw
20,000 beach closings and swim advisories.3 The Na-
tional Research Council recently warned that we should
expect more water-borne disease outbreaks without “sub-
stantial investments” to improve America’s water pipes
and systems.4