Water Grade

By Natalie Valdes 3-24-2013 

WEBN Staff Photo

America’s drinking water infrastructure may need a makeover.

Experts at the American Society of Civil Engineers have issued a report card on the condition and performance of our system. And it is not good.

America’s more than 100-year-old pipes and mains received a D+ grade.

Every year the country has about 240,000 water main breaks.

Even though the quality of the drinking water remains universally high, many of these pipes still need to be replaced.
About 170,000 public drinking water systems are found across the US.

Of those, 54,000 are community systems serving more than 264 million people.

The lifespan of these parts can range from 15 to 95 years.

Overall, the system upgrade could take 25 years and cost about one trillion dollars.