Opinion: U.S. must invest in water infrastructure or face cities and towns with problems like Atlanta, or worse

Old pipes are just one part of U.S. water infrastructure
that needs repair and redesign. (Adobe Stock photo)

Reflecting on the recent water pipe bursts in Atlanta, Joseph W. Kane discusses the unwanted but predictable tide of water problems that await U.S. cities and towns in his opinion for Brookings.

"The country is once again grappling with an age-old conundrum: how to stay ahead of an increasingly intractable list of water infrastructure challenges," Kane explains. "From Flint, Mich., to Jackson, Miss., to a seemingly unending number of urban and rural communities, the country's water infrastructure is aging and in need of repair."

The "fix-it" list contains a litany of put-off or ignored problems that, should they remain on the back burner, will become an "Atlanta-sized" problem or worse. "Contaminated drinking water, including lead pollution, leaking pipes, sewer overflows, and other chronic issues persist too," Kane writes. "The ripple effects of these failures are also extensive across different systems, leading to network failures across neighborhoods and entire regions."

America's water bill is enormous, and the work that must be undertaken is staggering. "More than $600 billion in investment is estimated to be needed over the next 20 years to keep up with all the necessary improvements, according to the latest EPA national water assessments," Kane adds. "The financial pressure is immense on local utilities — and other state agencies — who are constantly trying to cobble together enough resources to stay ahead of these needs."

How do we create solutions? "The first step is to establish increased, sustained federal water funding. While the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act pumped about $57 billion into a host of different water infrastructure improvements, this figure still pales in comparison to the price tags noted earlier," Kane writes. "The second step is to support continued local and state experimentation. While many utilities are struggling to simply keep up with existing repairs, that should not be an excuse for failing to test more proactive and collaborative solutions."

Home septic systems need regular care and maintenance to prevent 'seriously unpleasant' and expensive problems

Protozoa, rotifers, and other microorganisms work in
septic systems. (Image via Southern Sanitary Systems)

People who migrate from the city to more remote areas are wise to learn what many rural dwellers already know -- taking care of your home's septic system is serious business.

"You may want to ignore it," writes Kris Frieswick of The Wall Street Journal. "But there is only one thing worse than personally interacting with your septic system and its parts — the septic tank and leach field— and that is ignoring it. . . . [It] demands little except your consideration and maintenance, without which it will make your life seriously unpleasant."

While waste management discussions may feel unseemly, the topic is so essential that even the Old Testament gives instructions. Frieswick explains, "Deuteronomy 23:12-13 commands: 'Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment, have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.'. . . Bet you didn't know you had a big old hunk of Moses-approved engineering history buried next to your rhododendron."

Septic systems are more complex than a hole in the ground, but the idea is the same. Frieswick reports, "Your effluent flows through pipes into your oxygen-free septic tank, where bacteria (most of which is thoughtfully provided by your gut) eats undigested material, explains Robert Rubin, emeritus professor of biological and agricultural engineering at North Carolina State University. . . . Once those little bacterias in the tank get to work, the solids float or drop and the watery part drains off via pipe to a leach field." The leach field is the magical place where bacteria work pays off.

But things can go awry. "Septic tanks can get cracks in them. . . . Or they can back up if the pipes get clogged with grease," Frieswick writes. Inorganic material flushed accidentally can wreak havoc as well.

Before buying a new home, have the system separately inspected. Remember that tanks are built for bedroom capacity of a home. Capacity could be an issue if bedrooms are added to a house after its septic system. Use liquid detergents instead of powder, and fix water leaks that could stress the system. Plan on regular maintenance to avoid blockage headaches and pricey repairs.

      Knowing how a septic system works helps inform homeowners and renters on how to care for it.

New Mexico schools use wastewater testing to identify student drug use; the science is catching on in other places

Wasterwater testing can pinpoint drug use in schools
and communities. (N.M. Health Dept. photo via WP)

School administrators in New Mexico are using wastewater testing analysis to learn more about student drug use and to help inform their decisions on how to respond. "Using a technique that became popular nationally to spot Covid-19 outbreaks, New Mexico appears to be the first state to test wastewater at public high schools for a range of opioids and stimulants," reports Sara Randazzo of The Washington Post. "Initial data released since last week from more than three dozen high schools. . . included what school leaders and state officials called a surprise: cocaine use in nearly 82% of the campus communities."

Health and school officials plan to use testing results to "guide drug-prevention programs and pinpoint how to allocate resources for addiction services," Randazzo writes. "The tests aren't meant to assist in punitive measures, but to give a snapshot of campus drug use. . . . Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has led to a surge in overdoses nationwide, and its metabolite appeared at nine of the 38 New Mexico schools. None showed a heroin presence."

Europe and Australia began deploying wastewater testing to measure illicit drug use around 2010, but the method has been slow to "catch on in the U.S.," Randazzo reports. 

New Mexico may be the first to use wastewater testing in schools; however, "communities in California, Delaware, Virginia and elsewhere started broader municipal wastewater drug-testing programs this year focused on the opioid epidemic, some of it funded by the federal government," Randazzo writes. "Drug overdoses killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. in 2022, federal data shows, more than two-thirds of those from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids."

The wastewater testing company Biobot Analytics "is working with Marin County, an affluent area north of San Francisco, where drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for those 55 and under," Randazzo adds. "Matt Willis, Marin County's public health officer, said weekly testing over the past year helped them see in May that xylazine, a powerful horse tranquilizer that is dangerous to humans, was entering the community. . . ."