Our blog has touched on this subject before (here and here), but a recent article on contractormag.com caught my attention as it detailed the issues with America’s aging water system. For anyone interested in the issue and what is being done about it, it’s a fantastic article to read. When discussing the problem, it states, “According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2021 U.S. infrastructure report card, the United States gets a D+ in wastewater systems and doesn’t fare much better in drinking water with a barely passing C- grade.” This report card mentioned says 15% of the nation’s 61,000 wastewater treatment plans have reached or exceeded their designed capacity. Amazingly, according to this article, there is over 800,000 miles of public sewers and 500,000 miles of private lateral sewers, but approximately 20% of Americans still rely on septic tanks. This is likely to change over the next decade or so as billions of dollars are given for infrastructure improvements. However, as the report card for drinking water shows, the U.S. may have even bigger fish to fry in terms of infrastructure improvements.
One of the biggest issues facing America is the lead problem. While the U.S. has over 2 million miles of underground pipes providing our drinking water, the systems are aging and too often made of lead, which can lead to lead poisoning. According to the initial contractormag.com article, “While lead pipes were banned by Congress more than 30 years ago, somewhere between six and seven million remain in service according to the American Water Works Association.” (link added). The government recently passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts that allotted $50 billion to repairing and replacing America’s aging water delivery system, but it might be years until all of these pipes are replaced.
Are you living in a home built before 1980? Make sure you get your water tested for lead! Those 1970s homes and before often still have lead water lines. Shockingly, according to an Associated Press report, the CDC reports that over half a million children in America have elevated levels of lead in their blood stream, some of which are due to elevated levels of lead in the drinking water. Make sure this is not your kid! If you need to get your water lines replaced or need work on your aging sewer line, contact Apex! We’ve been in business since 1985 and have worked on thousands of water and sewer lines across Denver. If you need a new line, don’t wait on the government to get their act together. Call us today!
