The New York Times - Toxic Water

Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly
By CHARLES DUHIGG
Published: March 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — One recent morning, George S. Hawkins, a long-haired environmentalist who now leads one of the largest and most prominent water and sewer systems, trudged to a street corner here where water was gushing into the air.

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
As head of Washington's water department, George Hawkins, left, is on the scene every time a major sewer or water line breaks.

Toxic Waters
The Breaking Point

Articles in this series are examining the worsening pollution in America’s waters and regulators’ responses.

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Mr. Hawkins's goal is to replace, within the next century, the pipes that were installed in Washington a hundred years ago.

A cold snap had ruptured a major pipe that was installed the same year the light bulb was invented. Homes near the fashionable Dupont Circle neighborhood were quickly going dry, and Mr. Hawkins, who had recently taken over the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority despite having no experience running a major utility, was responsible for fixing the problem.

As city employees searched for underground valves, a growing crowd started asking angry questions. Pipes were breaking across town, and fire hydrants weren’t working, they complained. Why couldn’t the city deliver water, one man yelled at Mr. Hawkins.

Such questions are becoming common across the nation as water and sewer systems break down. Today, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data.

In Washington alone there is a pipe break every day, on average, and this weekend’s intense rains overwhelmed the city’s system, causing untreated sewage to flow into the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers.

State and federal studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly.

For decades, these systems — some built around the time of the Civil War — have been ignored by politicians and residents accustomed to paying almost nothing for water delivery and sewage removal. And so each year, hundreds of thousands of ruptures damage streets and homes and cause dangerous pollutants to seep into drinking water supplies.

Mr. Hawkins’s answer to such problems will not please a lot of citizens. Like many of his counterparts in cities like Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta and elsewhere, his job is partly to persuade the public to accept higher water rates, so that the utility can replace more antiquated pipes.

“People pay more for their cellphones and cable television than for water,” said Mr. Hawkins, who before taking over Washington’s water system ran environmental groups and attended Princeton and Harvard, where he never thought he would end up running a sewer system.

“You can go a day without a phone or TV,” he added. “You can’t go a day without water.”

But in many cities, residents have protested loudly when asked to pay more for water and sewer services. In Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Sacramento — and before Mr. Hawkins arrived, Washington — proposed rate increases have been scaled back or canceled after virulent ratepayer dissent.

So when Mr. Hawkins confronted the upset crowd near Dupont Circle, he sensed an opportunity to explain why things needed to change. It was a snowy day, and while water from the broken pipe mixed with slush, he began cheerily explaining that the rupture was a symptom of a nationwide disease, according to people present.

Mr. Hawkins — who at 49 has the bubbling energy of a toddler and the physique of an aging professor — told the crowd that the average age of the city’s water pipes was 76, nearly four times that of the oldest city bus. With a smile, he described how old pipes have spilled untreated sewage into rivers near homes.

“I don’t care why these pipes aren’t working!” one of the residents yelled. “I pay $60 a month for water! I just want my toilet to flush! Why do I need to know how it works?”

Mr. Hawkins smiled, quit the lecture, and retreated back to watching his crew.

On Capitol Hill, the plight of Mr. Hawkins and other utility managers has become a hot topic. In the last year, federal lawmakers have allocated more than $10 billion for water infrastructure programs, one of the largest such commitments in history.

But Mr. Hawkins and others say that even those outlays are almost insignificant compared with the problems they are supposed to fix. An E.P.A. study last year estimated that $335 billion would be needed simply to maintain the nation’s tap water systems in coming decades. In states like New York, officials estimate that $36 billion is needed in the next 20 years just for municipal wastewater systems.

As these discussions unfold, particular attention is being paid to Mr. Hawkins. Washington’s water and sewer system serves the White House, many members of Congress, and two million other residents, and so it surprised some when Mr. Hawkins was hired to head the agency last September, since he did not have an engineering background or the résumé of a utility chief.

In fact, after he had graduated from Harvard Law School in 1987, he spent a few years helping companies apply for permits to pollute rivers and lakes. (At night — without his firm’s knowledge — he had a second career as a professional break dancer. He met his wife, a nurse, when he fell off a platform at a dance club and landed on his head.)

But he quickly became disenchanted with corporate law. He moved to the E.P.A., where he fought polluters, and then the White House, and eventually relocated his family to a farm in New Jersey where they shoveled the manure of 35 sheep and kept watch over 175 chickens, and Mr. Hawkins began running a series of environmental groups.

The mayor of Washington, Adrian M. Fenty, asked Mr. Hawkins to move to the city in 2007 to lead the Department of the Environment. He quickly became a prominent figure, admired for his ability to communicate with residents and lawmakers. When the Water and Sewer Authority needed a new leader, board members wanted someone familiar with public relations campaigns. Mr. Hawkins’s mandate was to persuade residents to pay for updating the city’s antiquated pipes.

At a meeting with board members last month, Mr. Hawkins pitched his radical solution. Clad in an agency uniform — his name on the breast and creases indicating it had been recently unfolded for the first time — Mr. Hawkins suggested raising water rates for the average resident by almost 17 percent, to about $60 a month per household. Over the coming six years, that rate would rise above $100.

With that additional money, Mr. Hawkins argued, the city could replace all of its pipes in 100 years. The previous budget would have replaced them in three centuries.

The board questioned him for hours. Others have attacked him for playing on false fears.

“This rate hike is outrageous,” said Jim Graham, a member of the city council. “Subway systems need repairs, and so do roads, but you don’t see fares or tolls skyrocketing. Providing inexpensive, reliable water is a fundamental obligation of government. If they can’t do that, they need to reform themselves, instead of just charging more.”

Similar battles have occurred around the nation. In Philadelphia, officials are set to start collecting $1.6 billion for programs to prevent rain water from overwhelming the sewer system, amid loud complaints. Communities surrounding Cleveland threatened to sue when the regional utility proposed charging homeowners for the water pollution running off their property. In central Florida, a $1.8 billion proposal to build a network of drinking water pipes has drawn organized protests.

“We’re relying on water systems built by our great-grandparents, and no one wants to pay for the decades we’ve spent ignoring them,” said Jeffrey K. Griffiths, a professor at Tufts University and a member of the E.P.A.’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council.

“There’s a lot of evidence that people are getting sick,” he added. “But because everything is out of sight, no one really understands how bad things have become.”

To bring those lapses into the light, Mr. Hawkins has become a cheerleader for rate increases. He has begun a media assault highlighting the city’s water woes. He has created a blog and a Facebook page that explain why pipes break. He regularly appears on newscasts and radio shows, and has filled a personal Web site with video clips of his appearances.

It’s an all-consuming job. Mr. Hawkins tries to show up at every major pipe break, no matter the hour. He often works late into the night, and for three years he has not lived with his wife and two teenage children, who remained in New Jersey.

“The kids really miss their father,” said his wife, Tamara. “When we take him to the train station after a visit, my daughter in particular will sometimes cry. He’s missing out on his kids’ childhoods.”

And even if Mr. Hawkins succeeds, the public might not realize it, or particularly care. Last month, the utility’s board approved Mr. Hawkins’s budget and started the process for raising rates. But even if the bigger budget reduces the frequency of water pipe breaks by half — a major accomplishment — many residents probably won’t notice. People tend to pay attention to water and sewer systems only when things go wrong.

“But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Hawkins said recently, in between a meeting with local environmentalists and rushing home to do paperwork in his small, spartan apartment, near a place where he was once mugged at gunpoint.

“This is the fight of our lifetimes,” he added. “Water is tied into everything we should care about. Someday, people are going to talk about our sewers with a real sense of pride.”

Comment

I predict thast wars will be fought in the future over water. We cant live without it. Investing in those companies that make the repairs or put in new sewers would seem to be a good investment too.

NYT comments

landlessBrooklynMarch 15th, 20107:50 am
I work as a librarian. Daily, I am shocked by how the public expects the underfunded library and inadequate staff to give them what they want. This nation spends money on video games, bottled water, and Christmas decorations, but doesn't want to invest in infra-structure and human capital. That's how empires fall.
Recommend Recommended by 23 Readers 2.ErikFloridaMarch 15th, 20107:50 am
If there ever was a "shovel ready" project to utilize TARP money this is it.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers 3.CarolinaMexicoMarch 15th, 20107:50 am
Tax the rich.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers 4.solasNY, NYMarch 15th, 20107:50 am
Plenty of money for pipes in Iraq and Afghanistan though.
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers 5.AnnSMIMarch 15th, 20107:51 am
As city employees searched for underground valves, a growing crowd started asking angry questions. Pipes were breaking across town, and fire hydrants weren’t working, they complained. Why couldn’t the city deliver water, one man yelled at Mr. Hawkins.

Easy answer

Necause those who use the services do NOT want to pay the real cost.

Because those who use the services want everything at a bargain basement rate without thought for tomorrow.

Because those who use the services bought into the 'cut taxes' and 'government is evil' mantra of the right-wing who are only converned with preserving the wealth of the upper 1/10th of 1% and creating an aristocracy of inherited wealth.

Because between the "I want something for nothing' attitude of the masses and the 'We won't pay because we are the rich and aren't going to carry our fair share' of the upper 1%, there is no money.

Cut the military spending in 1/2 and there is exactly enough money to pay $335,000,000,000 to repair all the water systems.

Oh right....forgot. I forgot that it is more important to start wars of choice to bolster the testosterone driven egos of the armchair hawks than to maintain and create a 21st century infrastructure...... I forgot that it is more important that the upper 1% keep the 80% of all wealth and assets in the US in their vaults and that the upper 1% - and in particular the upper 1/100th of 1% - pay less taxes as a percentage of their income than the clerk at the grocery store does.
Recommend Recommended by 20 Readers 6.SylvanusNew YorkMarch 15th, 20107:52 amAt times I fear for our country, in the belief constantly promoted (especially by those who are often called conservatives but are actually radicals, often being funded by large and very powerful international corporations) that we don't have to pay taxes (which essentially is what is being asked in this case) to have what we need. California is a perfect example of what happens when this becomes an operating principle of governance, when it takes two-thirds of the legislature to raise a tax. (I read that this is a principle being advocated by the Tea Party Movement, which is also advocating the privatization of governmental services.) Undoubtedly there will be those who will use this as an opportunity to promote privatizing the delivery of water, and then we will be up-the-creek. In anticipation of that argument, I recommend the documentary BlueGold, which is on DVD and can be got through Netflix. It is an essential source of information on topic of our water supplies.
Recommend Recommended by 12 Readers 7.Darel SteinAtlantaMarch 15th, 20107:52 am
This looks like we have some perfect projects for the stimulus. Isn't the idea to provide jobs & get needed work done?
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers 8.RoscoeRochester MNMarch 15th, 20107:52 am
Irresponsible journalism -- again.
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader 9.reblaneSeattleMarch 15th, 20107:52 am
Perhaps all those billions spent killing Iraqis might be better spent at home...
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers 10.Patricia WilsonSan Jose, CAMarch 15th, 20107:52 am
Would we rather do without fresh water or sewer systems??? How about having the sewers all open in July when the temperature outdoors is in the 90's?? In San Jose we are sensible enough to have just completed new sewer pipes and fresh water systems in most of the city for 1 million people or more. Not many!! But then some people would prefer typhoid to a few dollars more a year for fresh water and sewer pipes. The contractors doing it must be watched over like anyone else must be so the money is used right. But to me it's a "no brainer". FIX or REPLACE the pipes--all of them!! If these others keep procrastinating, Haiti will be in better shape 10 years from now than some places here. LOVELY!!
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers 11.saulbrooklynMarch 15th, 20107:53 am
This is just one example of how we do things in this nation of ours.
We go for the short term over the long term.
We think in terms of how will this affect me and not how my children or their children will be affected.
We benefited from prior generations which had the wisdom to plan for the future and not just for themselves.
They built the railway system, and when that became obsolete they built the highway system.
What did we build.
We built the internet.
A perfect example of something that was primarily designed for right now.
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers 12.KenLong IslandMarch 15th, 20107:53 am
Another plot by the Democrats to make America a socialist country. Everyone knows we can't afford good water. Mediocre water is good enough, if you don't believe me ask Stossel. If you don't like the public water you can always buy bottled water.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers 13.OchsuckerTimes SquareMarch 15th, 20107:53 am
As a nuanced thinking progressive New Yorker, it's clear to me that assessing such fees citywide would unfairly burden the most vulnerable among us. Each day, citizens would arrive home and open their mail only to find that their rate have skyrocketed. One equitable solution would be to levy a rent and monthly fee surcharge of 15% on Manhattan residential property.
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader 14.ChuckMichiganMarch 15th, 20107:53 am
This is a huge problem all around the country. Instead of ignoring it, we should be doing something to address the problem rather than passing yet another burden onto our children. It seems like a great opportunity to create jobs and utilities are definitely more critical to everyday life than cable TV. Sheesh!
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers 15.JonathanBuffaloMarch 15th, 20107:54 am
Typical. The guys complaining about paying $60 dollars a month ($2/day) for household water probably had $2 bottles of water with them as they spoke.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers 16.ImagoOlympia WAMarch 15th, 20107:54 am
Populaation biologists has long understood that the populations of plants and animals (including humans) are limited by factors like available food, sunlight, water, habitat, nutrients (nitrogen, phosporus, etc.) and habitat. Now it appears that one of the key limits to human populations in this country will be to the community cooperation, imagination and willingness to maintain the infrastucture that allows megalopolis densities.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers 17.Sandy LewisLewis Family Farm, Essex, New YorkMarch 15th, 20107:55 am
Would be costly is one way to put it. That the past subjunctive case is used to express the despair of Mr. Duhigg and our New York Times in encouraging. It shows the most laudable concern.

The past subjunctive might be used in a whole slew of areas.

I do not recall a New York Times article that spells out just who owns vast segments of our water supply and distribution plant. NB: it may be investors from Germany.

Nor do I recall reading the number of different ways the most professional investor can invest in fresh water across the planet. NB: it's venture investing, based here.

Nor have I read the projections that detail what water will cost in a few short years.

And I do not believe we have been educated to understand what China will do to supply it's fresh water needs, among others - others, as in needs and water, take your pick.

Consult CIA stuff that's never printed - but well understood within the VC community.

That The United States of America is in deep trouble on every front is clear. Fresh water and sewage are but two among the critical areas.

The low cost bidders and the union labor obliged in public works in so-called competitive bidding have delivered the most poorly built roads, bridges, hospitals, railways, tunnels, homes, buildings, power systems, and infrastructure, and the list is growing as the stimulus money is sprinkled most everywhere, without a hint of common sense.

Charles Duhigg's reporting on water is fabulous and lasting.

Would it not be fantastic if the financial end of The Times reporting would - or could - manage something of similar quality.

When a dear friend said - about 22 years ago - he could no longer read The Times - he said he found it too painful, I did not fully understand. He was approaching 90. That was Peter Blos PhD., the great analyst.

He was not kidding.
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader 18.Armando VegaChicago, ILMarch 15th, 20107:55 am
Why are American voters so stupid!

You have to pay for services! Start being a more active participant in your community's policies!
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers 19.SpiritNaperville, ILMarch 15th, 20107:55 am
Seems like a great project to provide some jobs. I wonder which cities have been doing a good job and making needed improvements all along. I can understand people are upset paying for repairs and not wanting rate increases but I wonder if somehow magically the repairs could be done at no additional charge, would they still be against doing the repairs. Someone has to pay for the work. It may as well be the current users. We certainly can't charge people who are either dead or gone. The fact that the systems have lasted so long is a tribute to the good work of the engineers and tradesmen who designed and installed them.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers 20.csrkemsanta fe new mexicoMarch 15th, 20107:56 am
Dear NY Times I worked in water and wastewater resources in New Mexico for over 10 years. In that time I saw EPA always pushing the idea that there was a big gap in funding for new and renovated water and wastewater systems without ever talking about the real gap which is what people are willing to pay for these services. EPA did not do their job in putting more pressure on people either through the clean water act or the safe drinking water act to pay for their own up keep and maintenance of the systems upgraded or bought for them with state and federal funds. In New Mexico it is especially difficult since the state legislature puts out "pork" grants that are just enough to keep a water and or wastewater system afloat and out of the red. People in New Mexico are not especially rich in these rural areas but when we start paying more for cable than our utility systems then we are in trouble. The utility rate gap is what we have to address instead of the funding gap which just keeps EPA in business and continues an agency which has never really addressed the basic problem of maintaining what we have. Keith Melton
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers 21.JBoston, MAMarch 15th, 20108:11 am
It's sad that our nation has come to the point where a mild hike in rates is too much to ask to keep raw sewage from flowing into the ground. It's a toxic combination of lack of interest in the common good and a strange belief that the government needs no money to provide the many essential services it provides. But I guess we, as a society, have finally succumbed to the "taxes bad, government corrupt" myth that moneyed interests posing as "good old folks" have bashed us over the head with since Reagan. Until we can get it into our thick heads that you can't run a society without a well-funded government, we're going to be stuck in a downward spiral of public degradation.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers 22.Armando VegaChicago, ILMarch 15th, 20108:12 am
And Mr. Hawkins is an American hero!

Let's celebrate more of the George Hawkins' in our country and less Britney Spears' and Lil' Waynes'!
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers 23.LVTfanStamford, CTMarch 15th, 20108:12 am
Charging the users of water in proportion to their usage is not the only or best way to finance the maintenance of vital infrastucture.

One of the reasons that city land is valuable and country land is less so is that the former has access to extensive infrastructure. Were that infrastructure to degrade and become unreliable, as some parts of the infrastructure in Iraq have become unreliable or subpar, urban land value would drop.

But there is a largely untapped resource which we ought to be using far more of: the rental value of urban land. The land under, say, Midtown Manhattan would become far less valuable if there were not a reliable water supply. Yet most of the economic rent on that land resides in the pockets of the landholders, rather than being collected by the city for public purposes. Yes, this is traditional. It is also dumb.

Leona Helmsley told the truth when she told us that "WE don't pay taxes. The little people pay taxes." We ought to be taxing our urban land value more heavily to finance all the kinds of services which make that urban land so valuable.

We rely on taxes on sales and on wages and on buildings at the expense of having a healthy economy, and, as a byproduct, we get concentrated income and concentrated wealth.

To learn more in the context of another city, you might search on "Ricardo's Law" and "tax clawback scam" for a short film on the subject.

We ought to be tapping the economic rent on urban land to maintain our urban infrastructure.

Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers 24.ezra abramsnrMarch 15th, 20108:12 am
how did a white guy from harvard with no experience get named director of water in DC, a city that is almost all black ?
Gotta assume some sort of old boy network here, which is exactly why we have
*affirmative* action
why is this not part of the story ?
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers 25.kunosouraOklahomaMarch 15th, 20108:13 am
And how many $Trillions of dollars did Bush spend on illegal wars. How much does Obama spend every day on his esclation of the wars; on the hundreds of military bases around the world. And over 62% of the so-called national "economy" is military spending. A empire without a manufacturing base, bankrupt, that must borrow $Millions every day just to function- a failed education system, & all fair pay jobs gone forever. The grandchildren of current citizens will still be paying the national debt. No empire, much less democracy, ever survived militarism. Pres. Eisenhower warned of the industrial-military complex and that's all that is left of america.

jimmyhonoluluMarch 15th, 20108:13 am
i was working for the mass water resources authority,when we had to raise fees we did and know boston mass has a state of the art water and sewer system ,know i work for the city and county of honolulu ,i feel like i am back in 1986 out here crumbling streets ,crumbling sewer system ,train is coming to honolulu,know please look at me on hawaii news station khon 2 for the story on wastewater 3-10-10,thanks i would appreciate all comments ,thanks jimmy .by the way the judge garrity , was the man that ordered the mass water to fix deer island in the mid eighties,and he also was known for the crisis called forced busing,mahalo
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers 27.Armando VegaChicago, ILMarch 15th, 20108:14 am
Ok, sorry for the third post, but just wanted to apologize if my first comment wasn't very constructive...

*goes back to class reading..*
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers 28.Andy HainCarmel, CAMarch 15th, 20108:14 am
Well, no surprise there - it's been all about me, me, me! The costly version of setting the kiddies in front of a TV to keep 'em quiet. Now grown up, they can't balance a check-book.

From what happened with the housing/financial bubble, melt-down and crash, it's all too clear that far too many of us became completely spendthrift regarding our personal wants and desires, but cheaper than cheap - and reckless - towards critical needs. Let someone else worry about the infrastructure, and don't bother me while I'm downloading or texting....

The result? Million of kids with phone plans, but families losing homes by the millions - leading to the slow crumbling of communities all across our nation. Sorry, but I find it hard to be very sympathetic.
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers 29.marik7wailiku, hiMarch 15th, 20108:39 am
Let's see. People protest rate increases to fix the infrastructure in their communities.

Do they then eagerly drink the polluted water, or just go buy some bottled stuff? Are they among those who complain about the deteriorating public services provided in this nation.

Is the water in their Jacuzzis polluted?
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers 30.MIKE in NYCNYMarch 15th, 20108:39 am
Like there's a choice!

We're all in this together. It's got to be done. It's no one's fault.
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers 31.Dave HaloSo CalMarch 15th, 20108:39 am
"Providing inexpensive, reliable water is a fundamental obligation of government."

Yes, Mr Graham, I agree with the last part. Tell me how the construction, operations, maintenance and repair/replacement can be done cheaply? If it's not the people receiving the water paying for it, who else should?

because you are a politician spokeshole, you only make statements that will help get you re-elected instead of solving problems.

Infrastructure problems in this country will require massive infusions of cash. otherwise, we will crumble even faster from within.

People pay $2, $3, $4 or more dollars for a bottle of water (maybe a quart) but complain if their $60/month bill for 1000's of gallons is raised.

Pull your head out of the sand Mr Graham.

Keep up the good fight Mr Hawkins
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers 32.s franklinAtlanta,GAMarch 15th, 20108:40 am
Thank goodness Mr. Hawkins is pushing for investment in the water system in the nation's capital. For decades Atlantans ignored the need for investment. After the city was sued in federal court, the city's leaders decided to invest in sewer system upgrades. The city's Clean Water Program includes water and sewer upgrades and replacement valued at over $3.7 billion by 2014. Twice the voters have voted to approve a one cent sales tax to support the investment and the City City Council has adopted water/sewer rate increases that make Atlanta's rates among the highest in the country. This investment will pay benfits in new jobs and economic development in Atlanta for years to come. No city can expect to grow, to be healthy or to support a growing economy without clean water in ample supply.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers 33.Gary PackwoodHouston, Texas USAMarch 15th, 20108:40 am
Seems strange that we know in our business organization how long a building will last or how long until the roof will need replacing.

And all that preventative maintenance information is tracked on special software and has been for decades.

Why are we not doing the same with city infrastructure?

Just tell the truth.
::
GP

Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers 34.RussFt. Lauderdale, FlMarch 15th, 20108:40 am
Such an important topic. It's startling to find out just how old the water systems actually are; it's almost a miracle that they still work at all! Here's the root of the problem - America has neglected its infrastructure on many fronts for generations, the water and sewerage systems being only part of the problem. We have neglected these fundamentals in favor of spending money on other fronts, perhaps more visible but maybe less important, such as wars.

Now comes the time to face an unpalatable truth and that is that unless we are willing to pay for it the infrastructure will continue to crumble (think bridges collapsing and other unpleasant scenarios). We are a country that has one of the lowest tax rates in the world. Kudos to this guy for saying it like it is - it's about time we concentrate on fixing our own country.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers 35.Big BillOlympia, WAMarch 15th, 20108:40 am
This is like everything else in America: when it was cheaper to fix it, we ignored it so we could get bigger houses, bigger cars, and bigger bellies.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers 36.citizen janeDC suburbsMarch 15th, 20108:40 am
When appearance trumps competence, this is what you get. Better come up with some money and humility to pay very well the *competent* engineers who can actually get the job done, make the top management engineers too, and give them the freedom to do it right without political nonsense. If you keep hiring for appearances, it'll cost you five times and it won't get done right. Remember the Big Dig in Boston. Falling tiles in a new tunnel killed a woman driving through. We don't have the money to fool around any more. Make it rewarding for someone to put aside the distractions and actually study in college. Recognize that if you have someone who knows the water system due to years of experience, *that's* who you put in charge. Quit with the public relations already. Fire people who don't work. Make sure everyone that you're paying, is actually getting the work done.
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers 37.engchinaseattleMarch 15th, 20108:41 am
Stories like this one continually amaze me.
Reading this article, I sense once again that attempts to improve delivery of the nation's water supply is being thwarted by the anti-tax lobby and the waive of protest against anything government tries to do to improve the quality life for the average citizen, especially if it means increasing the average water bill to pay for modern H2O pipes and sewage treatment plants.
I am sure most americans like the idea of clean water, but it appears from reading this article that they just don't want to pay for it.

Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers 38.bigrussMpls MnMarch 15th, 20108:41 am
What do people think? It should be free. Maybe a little Typhoid fever to start with may change there thinking. Yes
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers 39.C.L.DetroitMarch 15th, 20108:41 am
I find it bewildering where our priorities lie. Of all the things in this world that could be neglected, water is perhaps the most essential to our well-being. How unfortunate it is that keeping water clean, safe and well-circulated can be so inconvenient. Not only in this particular issue - defect of water delivery systems - but any issue with water at the core. Now I don't think that bursting pipes is the most dire scenario with regards to water. I do feel, however, it is ignorant to demand the luxury of running water while protesting the cost of it.
On another note, a massive restoration project of the nation's water delivery systems could be a good way to generate jobs while doing something productive.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers 40.RichHuntington Beach, CAMarch 15th, 20108:41 am
If President Obama and the Democrat Leadership had any brains, which they appear to be lacking, they would invest in this very important infrastructure, thus creaing American JOBS!!!!!!!!
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers 41.JoySR, CaliforniaMarch 15th, 20108:41 am
As usual - people only want to pay for something if it helps them - well we all need water - so pay up and shut up....let the reconstruction begin....
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers 42.ElvisPortland, OrMarch 15th, 20108:45 am
Americans need to grow up. Providing water and sewage are just another opportunity for big government to gain control over our lives. Of course we have crumbling infrastructure, liberals have been in power! What we need is to back to our roots and gather water and dispose of waste individually, with no government interference!