Our Failing Infrastructure

The news this morning wasn’t good: unemployment in October climbed to a twenty-five year high of 10.2 percent and is expected to grow. More troubling for those of us in the infrastructure field, last month the economy also lost about 62,000 construction jobs. While the Obama administration estimates on recovery.gov that as of October 30, 640,329 jobs have either been created or saved by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, clearly more must be done to stem the tide of continuing job losses.

You know another thing that’s still not getting any better? Yep, that’s right, you guessed it- the nation’s failing infrastructure! It’s been almost 10 months since ASCE graded the nation’s infrastructure at a D and estimated that it would cost $2.2 trillion over five years to bring it up to a good condition – and so far not much has changed.

So bad news all around, right? Well, if you don’t want to be too depressed on a Friday afternoon, why not take this opportunity to help put some of this right. We need engineers and anyone who cares about infrastructure to contact their legislators in support of these crucial issues that will improve infrastructure and put people to work:

1.                  Surface Transportation System Authorization – the nation’s transportation system has been operating on short-term extensions since SAFETEA-LU expired in September. This lack of action on new policy is keeping states from making long-term transportation plans or hiring new workers. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) this week called waiting on an authorization “wrong-headed” when so many people are out of work. Click here to send a message to your legislators instantly.

2.                  Clean Water Trust Fund – the nation’s water infrastructure system faces hundreds of billions of dollars worth of repairs, and yet no sustainable federal revenue source exists to pay for those needs. The Trust Fund would collect money from polluters and those who use water systems for product disposal and distribute it in a consistent manner to states for repair and rehabilitation of essential drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities.  The Fund would raise an estimated $11 billion per year through 2015. Click here to send a message to your legislators instantly.

3.                  Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act – across the country, thousands of dams are aging. Most of these dams were built prior to development down stream, and now, should they fail, could cause major loss of life and property. The Dam Rehab bill would create a grant program to help states repair and modernize threatened dams. Click here to send a message to your legislators instantly.

The speedier travel time, more reliable water systems, and protection from unsafe dams should be reason enough to support any of these above issues. But think about the job someone would get designing, building, or maintaining any of this infrastructure and these pieces of legislation take on even more importance. So ask your elected officials for support today and let people in your community know how important a safe and efficient infrastructure is to our economy. 

The Virginia Section of ASCE this week released its 2009 Report Card for Virginia’s Infrastructure. The Old Dominion’s infrastructure rated a D+ overall.

The section’s first Report Card graded 13 infrastructure categories: aviation facilities, bridges, dams, drinking water systems, energy, parks and recreation, ports and navigable waterways, rail and transit, roads, schools, solid waste disposal facilities, stormwater management and wastewater. Individual category grades ranged from a high of B- for parks and recreation, to a low of D- for each of dams, roads and schools. The report also noted that failure to maintain and preserve the state’s resources, and to implement effective long-range infrastructure management plans, is having a negative impact on Virginia’s future.

“Commuters are losing hours each day to gridlock; the pipes that carry drinking water into our homes are aging, overused and in some case, contaminated; and our children’s classrooms are becoming increasingly crowded,” said Thomas L. Fitzgerald, section president, and chair of the Report Card Committee. “Robust infrastructure is a vital component of the health of the state’s economy and its ability to attract business and industry. Even more importantly, it is also vital to supporting and protecting the health and safety of Virginians.”

The Virginia Section also noted that Dams received a low grade of D- since new state regulations enacted in 2008 nearly doubled the number of dams requiring state inspection. Despite these stricter guidelines, the state has not provided any additional funds to carry out the inspections.

To read the full report, visit ASCE Virginia’s website.

NBC 12 in Richmond also did a great piece on the Report Card and Virginia’s failing infrastructure.

A water main installed in the 1870s- yes the horse and buggy 1870s- ruptured this morning in New York City, causing major flooding and transportation disruptions. The NY Times City Blog paints a pretty grim picture:

A 12-inch cast-iron water main installed in 1870 broke in Lower Manhattan early Friday morning, flooding about a dozen buildings, forcing the evacuation of several structures, and sending water gushing over the area at least three blocks around the site … The water was up to four feet deep in some buildings at the height of the flood, around 5 a.m. Service on the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 subway lines was interrupted for a while, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is continuing to warn of delays in service along those lines, as well as on the M20, M22 and X25 bus routes.

While I hate to say “I told you so” after a disaster, this rupture brings home the need to do two crucial things recommended by the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure:

1.      (specific) Invest in modernizing the nation’s water infrastructure

2.      (general) Plan, design, and operate resilient critical infrastructure systems to withstand and recover from disruptions.

It might not be much consolation to the people up in NYC today dealing with damages to homes and business or who are unable to travel, but there are some tools we can use to keep problems like this from happening again.

Firstly, we need to support legislation that increases revenues for water infrastructure. The federal government’s share of water infrastructure investments has dropped dramatically over the last few decades and local governments are left shouldering a financial burden too big to handle. A new proposal in Congress, the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act raises revenues from a variety of sources to fund a Trust Fund for drinking and wastewater infrastructure. An easy thing for you to do is visit ASCE Report Card Action Center and send an email to your legislators instantly asking them to support the bill.

Second, the delays to vehicle, bus, and rail travel in a busy downtown area this break is causing illustrate how interconnected our infrastructure systems are. A new publication form ASCE Guiding Principles for Critical Infrastructure gives engineers and policymakers a framework for not only protecting infrastructure in a disaster, but making sure all systems (transportation, water, emergency services) work together to keep people safe and get things back on track.  

Most of these problems won’t be fixed over night – NYC itself probably has hundreds of miles of century-old pipes – but we need to start somewhere. Infrastructure failures are often tragedies with both human and economic costs, but they also show us where we need to be doing better. Thankfully it looks like no one got hurt this time, but let’s not sit around and wait for another break to happen we need more money to build a safer, smarter system.  

As we reported yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 3202) and ASCE was on hand to endorse the legislation and provide commentary on the condition of the nation’s water infrastructure. H.R. 3202 would set up a fund to provide $10 billion annually for the nation’s drinking and wastewater systems. To learn more, visit Rep. Blumenauer’s website.

Be sure to visit ASCE’s Click and Connect with Congress Advocacy Website  to send a message to your representative urging him or her to co-sponsor this important legislation.

Here are some pictures from today’s press conference announcing the introduction of the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act.

Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) (L) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) announce the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act

Dale Jacobson, P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE expresses ASCE's support

More photos from this afternoon’s hearing later…

Everyone seems to be pinching pennies or clipping coupons these days. Why not add throwing money down the drain to the list?

No, not wasting money, I mean investing in our water infrastructure. Other than when they back up or break, most of us don’t give much thought to the pipes in our community that bring us potable drinking water or take away and clean our wastewater. But believe me, the pipes are there, and they’re working overtime to meet the demands we put on them everyday.

While it may seem like things are OK since we get our water out of the tap same as always, the water infrastructure system is not currently equipped to handle growing capacity. Pipes that were laid in the early part of the 20^th century in many cities are at the end or past their design lives. Additionally, these older systems must be upgraded to meet new regulations for environmental quality. ASCE’s 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded the nation’s drinking and wastewater systems at a D- and estimated that it would cost $255 billion over five years to bring systems up to a good condition.

That steep price tag, like with most infrastructure, has stymied governments at every level. Currently, the federal government invests only about $4 billion a year in water per year and many cities and towns don’t have the resources to keep systems from decaying further.

To begin tackling the funding challenge, ASCE will be standing along others in the water infrastructure industry and a bipartisan group of legislators tomorrow to announce the introduction of the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act. Sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, this bill would create a $10 billion annual fund to begin crucial repairs and improvements to the nation’s drinking and wastewater systems.

Following the announcement, ASCE Report Card Advisory Council Member Dale Jacobson, P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE will testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in support of the legislation.

You may watch the hearing tomorrow (7/15/09) afternoon live online at 2 PM EST on the T&I Committee’s website.

For additional information on a Clean Water Trust Fund, read this recent GAO Report.

And remember, the next time you think you are just throwing money down the drain, it probably needs it.  

*** Once the water trust fund bill is introduced, check back here for a link to send your representative an instant email asking them to support the bill.***