According to the American Society of Civil Engineer’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, “Our nation’s drinking water infrastructure is composed of 2.2 million miles of pipe, most of which is underground and unseen by the millions of consumers who rely on it every day; unfortunately, this often means that water infrastructure is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Some of the nation’s oldest pipes were laid in the 19th century, and pipes that were laid post-World War II have an average life span of 75 to 100 years, meaning that many of them are reaching the end of their design life.”
Taken to its extreme, the problems of aging pipes can prove to be disastrous.
- Publication date: December 2024
- Authors: Richard Greene and Katherine Barrett