Billions Needed for Water Infrastructure

  • In order to provide safe drinking water for a community, water pipelines have to be properly maintained. (Photo by Keith Syvinski)

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will cost more than a quarter trillion dollars over the next 20 years to ensure safe drinking water in the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Carmody reports:

Transcript

The EPA says it will cost more than a quarter trillion dollars over the next twenty years to ensure safe drinking water in the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Carmody reports:


Benjamin Grumbles is the assistant EPA administrator for water. He says
the primary obstacle faced by most communities to providing safe drinking
water is the age of the pipes and other infrastructure through which the water
must pass.


Grumbles says replacing transmission lines and distribution pipes accounts
for two-thirds of the 277 billion dollars the EPA estimates will need to be
spent between now and 2025.


“Sometimes the materials will just break down due to age or other stresses.”


The biggest obstacle communities will face is paying for upgrades of their
existing infrastructure.


The federal government only provides a small amount of seed money for
upgrading local water utilities, amounting to only 850 million dollars this
year.


For the GLRC, I’m Steve Carmody.

Related Links