Aging Infrastructure
In the 7 report cards that the American Society of Civil Engineers has put out on US infrastructure since 1998, drinking water and wastewater have never gotten more than a D and a D+, respectively. They are “in poor to fair condition and mostly below standard, with many elements approaching the end of their service life." Stormwater, which wasn't even evaluated separately before 2021, also got a D. With an average of 850 water main breaks per day, keeping theses systems in a state of good repair will require investments of $5 trillion over then next 20 years. ($4.8 trillion for drinking water and wastewater and another $298 billion for stormwater)
Figure 1‑1 shows the results of individual state-level infrastructure assessments conducted since 2015. Localities are simultaneously experiencing population shifts driven by international migration, natural increase and domestic migration (LePan 2019). Figure 1‑2 shows how an increase in the national population of 18.4 million people between 2010 and 2018 manifested differently across counties. Areas with growing populations may need new or expanded infrastructure, while existing systems in areas with declining populations may deteriorate more quickly than otherwise expected without additional maintenance and replacement. The total US population is expected to further increase by 40 million people (14%) between 2020 and 2040 (Vespa, Medina, and Armstrong 2020). The cost of restoring and expanding US water infrastructure over the next 20 years is more than $3 trillion (ASCE and Value of Water Campaign 2020).