Biden’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Could Be a Step Towards Improving America’s Aging Water Infrastructure and Protecting It From Climate Change
In September of 2021, Vox released an article exploring the drinking water crisis impacting millions of people across the country. In this article, Li Zhou performs an in-depth case study on the drinking water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, specifically. The resident that Zhou interviewed has been using bottled water for cooking and drinking for years due to the city’s unsafe and frequently interrupted drinking water service. This past winter, a sudden period of extreme cold caused pipes to burst and left approximately 40,000 Jackson residents without access to water for over two weeks. Many cities around the United States are facing similar consequences of poor water infrastructure. A report from McKinsey found that, on average, anywhere from 14-18% of total daily treated, potable drinking water in the United States is lost due to leaking, with some water systems reporting much higher loss rates of over 60%.
Water infrastructure in the United States is extremely outdated, with the average US water-network pipe being at least 45 years old and some cast-iron pipes being over 100 years old. Aside from the aging water infrastructure, the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change are expected to further strain drinking water supplies around the country and the world. Replacing water infrastructure is a massive but necessary project that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates will take $839 million/year to replace and monitor. However, the United States has historically been slow to adapt and invest in new technology to improve health, safety, and efficiency.
Aside from improvements to the physical infrastructure, researchers have also argued that stronger enforcement of drinking water regulations is essential for improving the overall safety of drinking water in the United States. Many water systems around the country do not comply with requirements outlined in the Clean Water Act. However, they have been allowed to continue to operate due to inadequate enforcement of the Act. Another issue threatening drinking water supplies is the lack of regulations for discharging wastewater. Improper wastewater discharge can result in excessive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen entering waterways which causes algae blooms.
More recently, the House passed Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes a total of $1 trillion in funding to repair aging infrastructure, fund new climate initiatives, expand access to high-speed internet service, and more. The bill has specifically carved out $48 billion to fund water-related repairs, such as replacing lead pipes and studying emerging water contaminants. Individual states have quite a bit of freedom in determining how such funding will be spent. Still, the passing of this bill is a step in a positive direction towards improving the nation’s drinking water infrastructure.