Latest news with #ReportCardforAmerica'sInfrastructure
Newsweek
06-05-2025
- General
- Newsweek
To Fix America's Crumbling Water Infrastructure, the Private and Public Sectors Must Work Together
Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers' Report Card for America's Infrastructure provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of the nation's infrastructure. The results of the recently released 2025 report card were not where we want or need to be as a nation. Drinking water received a grade of C- and wastewater infrastructure a D+. Even more concerning, there's been no change since the 2021 report card. The ASCE data reflects the harsh reality faced by communities across the U.S.—public water systems are in desperate need of investment, repair, and modernization. Access to safe, clean, reliable, and affordable water is not a given for all Americans. View of the hand of a person holding a glass of drinking water from a tap. View of the hand of a person holding a glass of drinking water from a tap. VINCENT FEURAY/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Last December, Baltimore's water system—which serves 1.8 million people—showed elevated levels of legionella bacteria. This came on the heels of E. coli found in their water system in 2022 due to failing infrastructure. In Jackson, Miss., decades of water supply problems culminated with the 2022 failure of a major water treatment plant, leaving 160,000 people without potable water. And, 10 years later, work continues to remove lead pipes in Flint, Mich. These examples made national headlines, but there are systems across the U.S. that have similar challenges that haven't made the news—whether in dense urban spaces, sprawling suburbs, or rural communities. No one wants to be the next front-page story. We need to take a hard look at the current state of our water system infrastructure. Our nation's drinking water infrastructure system is made up of 2.2 million miles of underground pipes. According to the American Society of Engineers, because of the aging infrastructure, drinking water systems currently lose at least 6 billion gallons of treated water per day. That's over 9,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. This amounts to 2.1 trillion gallons of water loss per year, at a cost of $7.6 billion annually. U.S. water system owners currently spend a fraction of the $1 trillion we'll need in the next 20 years to make necessary upgrades. This doesn't account for the impact of extreme weather events like floods and droughts, which strain systems. And industry demands are only continuing to increase. Large, regulated water companies aren't the norm in the U.S. Unlike gas and electric utilities, most of which are regionalized, water systems are highly fragmented. There are more than 50,000 community water systems. The majority of these serve less than 10,000 people—and more than half serve fewer than 500 people. The small scale and fragmentation of these systems is inefficient, creating steep challenges for communities that have limited access to capital due to small customer bases. Decade after decade, needed upgrades are often unmade, creating a cycle of underinvestment that typically comes to a head when systems fail to meet drinking water standards or face major, costly upgrades or repairs that can no longer be kicked down the road. The solution will require both the public and private sectors to come together, and leveraging private capital is a key component. Yet the idea of infusing private capital is sometimes met with resistance. Perhaps it is a fear of loss of local oversight or a revenue stream, but the reality is that larger, regulated utility companies bring experience, expertise, and private capital that many small systems simply don't have. These companies are solutions providers, helping communities solve water and wastewater challenges, such as PFAS, lead and copper, and other critical issues that arise from underinvestment and deferred maintenance, and they do so at economies of scale, spreading investment across a much larger customer base. American Water plans to invest $40-$42 billion across our water and wastewater systems over the next 10 years. Economic impact studies show that for every $1 million invested in water infrastructure, upwards of 15 jobs are generated throughout local economies. For cash-tight communities, the long-term economic impact is consequential. Less money being used to replace aging infrastructure means more money for fixing roads, supporting pension funds, and stabilizing local taxes. To achieve the goal of safe, clean, reliable, and affordable water for every American, partnering with the federal, state, and local governments, along with other stakeholders, is key. Enacting constructive policies drives additional investment in critical systems. Proposed legislation, supported by the water industry, such as the Water Systems PFAS Liability Protection Act, would allow water utilities to prioritize maintaining water quality over defending against polluters' liability disputes. Support of the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) would help ensure affordable access to safe drinking water while helping to provide all water utilities with much-needed revenue to repair and modernize infrastructure. Legislation is needed to ensure that all wastewater utilities have access to Clean Water State Revolving Fund dollars, allowing all utilities to apply for low-cost financing for wastewater infrastructure projects—and passing the savings on to customers. The solution is an "and" not "or" approach that requires the public and private sectors to work together. Public-private cooperation and partnership reap bigger benefits as well. We can safeguard human health, incentivize economic investment, and ultimately create American jobs. Working together, we can preserve and enhance our most precious resource for generations to come. John Griffith is the president of American Water. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The state of America's infrastructure gets highest-ever marks, but key areas lacking
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on Tuesday released its latest report on the health of U.S. infrastructure, which received its highest-ever overall grade, though several key areas received relatively poor marks. ASCE's Report Card for America's Infrastructure, which is released every four years grading infrastructure using an A-to-F school report card format, gave U.S. infrastructure a C on an overall basis – an improvement from the C- grade it issued four years ago as about half of the 18 categories assessed saw incremental improvements. The C grade is the highest ever national infrastructure grade dating back to the inception of ASCE's Report Card in 1998. It noted that infrastructure investments approved as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law have helped contribute to that improvement, though ASCE warned that the investment gap between current infrastructure investment plans and what would be needed to get the nation's infrastructure in good working order has risen. The gap widened from $2.59 trillion four years ago to $3.7 trillion this year. "Every American household or business immediately feels the impact of just one inefficiency or failure in our built environment," said Darren Olson, 2025 report card chair at ASCE. "However, if we maintain investments, each American household can save $700 per year. Better infrastructure is an efficient investment of taxpayer dollars that results in a stronger economy and prioritizes American jobs, resilience and connectivity." Blackrock Inks $23B Deal For Panama Canal Ports According to ASCE's grade structure, grades in the B tier are considered "good, adequate for now," while the C tier is "mediocre, requires attention" and the D tier is considered "poor, at risk." Though none were awarded in this year's edition, A grades are "exceptional, fit for the future" – while F grades are "failing/critical, unfit for purpose." Read On The Fox Business App In the 2025 report, grades ranged from B to D and for the first time since 1998, no categories earned a D- grade. Of the 18 infrastructure categories graded, eight improved from the 2021 report while two received lower grades in this year's edition. Ports scored the highest with a B after improving from the previous report, while a B- grade was awarded to rail infrastructure – which represented a decline from four years ago. Hiring Expert Warns Trump's Immigration Plan Could Force 'Massive Shift' Within Critical Workforce Broadband and solid waste infrastructure each received a C+ grade; while bridges and hazardous waste received C grades. Drinking water, public parks and inland waterways all received C- grades. Of the categories with grades in the C range, hazardous waste, inland waterways and public parks saw improved grades compared with the 2021 report. ASCE gave D+ grades to aviation, dams, energy, levees, roads, schools and wastewater infrastructure. The grade for energy infrastructure declined from four years ago while the report found that dams, levees and roads merited improved grades in this year's report. Stormwater and transit infrastructure received a D grade, which in the case of transit represented an improvement from 2021. ASCE's report also assessed the funding gap between needs and funds provided for the 18 infrastructure categories over the 2024-2033 period based on deferred maintenance needs. The estimated funding gap across all infrastructure categories came to a cumulative $3.689 trillion over that period. Among the more troubled infrastructure categories that merited grades in the D range, wastewater and stormwater combined for the largest funding gap of $690 billion, followed closely by roads with a $684 billion gap. Energy infrastructure's $578 billion gap was the third largest of the D-tier categories, followed by schools ($429 billion), dams ($166 billion), transit ($152 billion), aviation ($113 billion) and levees ($91 billion). Among infrastructure categories in the B and C grade tiers, bridges had the largest funding gap at $373 billion, followed by drinking water at $309 billion. Most of the remaining infrastructure categories had funding gaps estimated at $44 billion or less. Broadband had no funding gap because its $61 billion need has been funded over the 2024-2033 period, according to ASCE's analysis. Energy Secretary Says Northeast Natural Gas Pipeline Project Could Start This Year To improve America's infrastructure grades ahead of its next report in four years, ASCE said that "continued – and in some cases, increased – investment is necessary despite recent resources slowing the growth of America's infrastructure gap." ASCE said that Congress should maintain investment levels under the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) when it expires next year and fully fund authorized programs during the appropriations process. The group urged federal, state and local governments to expand the use of public-private partnerships for appropriate projects and find ways to leverage additional financing tools. It also called for Congress to ensure the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to be depleted in 2028, along with ensuring that State Revolving Funds for Clean Watersheds and Drinking Water don't experience revenue losses. ASCE added that project owners should consider life-cycle costs throughout the planning, financing, construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of projects to get the most value – while owners and operators of infrastructure need to generate the revenue needed to cover those costs. "Infrastructure owners and operators must charge rates reflecting the true cost of using, maintaining, and improving infrastructure. They will need to educate the public on the actual cost to deliver those services so they can understand set rates," ASCE article source: The state of America's infrastructure gets highest-ever marks, but key areas lacking
