Floods and Freezes Expose America’s Broken Plumbing

Extreme weather has laid bare the failing condition of America’s water infrastructure.

This week, the residents of Asheville, NC finally got their drinking water restored, 53 days after Hurricane Helene devastated the area.

It’s not just the length of time it took to get water back; it’s the shocking revelations about water quality that came to the surface. As the Guardian discovered, many residents still don’t dare to drink the water, and they have good reason.

Lead has been detected in local schools, and there seems to be no safe source, other than bottled water—which has its own legacy of contamination. Research in 2021 showed that about one-fourth of bottled water brands in the U.S. contain dangerous PFAs. 

I was shocked to learn that along with these rising infrastructure issues is an old one: plumbing poverty. According to USA Facts, “Between 2019 and 2021, an additional 50,661 American households lacked a bath or shower. Plus, 53,705 more households didn’t have hot or cold running water, and 48,351 additional households lacked both.”

That’s a relatively small group of “unplumbed” housing in the States, but unless more effort is put into plumbing replacement, it’s likely to grow much, much larger. Here’s why.

Pipes all over the U.S. are in need of replacement. But the cost will be high. Source: Circleofblue.org

Accelerated Decay 

The rise of extreme rain and flooding, along with sudden and unexpected freeze conditions (such as occurred in Texas) have not caused our infrastructure crisis. But they are acting as an accelerant. The City of Asheville for example, was already wasting nearly 30 percent of its fresh water from leaking pipes. That’s about twice the national average, according to EPA estimates.

The article notes that water main failures tend to be about 45 years old and made of cast iron. “Over the last 20 years, water crews have replaced 88 miles of pipe in the system, which comprises just over 1,700 miles of water lines.”

Denialism about Climate Change among city staff had already started to crumble, when record cold temps hit the area. The apocalyptic flooding might be the final push toward a more realistic view of what’s needed to fix the problem. It’s going to cost. A lot. 

As much as 12,000 miles of underground pipe are replaced each year, but this figure is tiny, given the scale of the problem. And floods are making things worse. Image: American Society of Civil Engineers

Public officials note that most towns don’t allot nearly enough money to replace plumbing, so there’s a huge lag between the gradual transition to new pipes, and the growing number of leaks and breaks.

Flooding supercharges the problem, because it changes hydraulic conditions below ground. Tree roots for instance, are often uprooted, breaking pipes as they go, or pressure shifts can snap pipes off entirely.

Who Will Pay?

The sheer amount of money required to upgrade pipes completely is staggering. It’s not inconceivable that cities could reach a point where they simply stop repairing pipes for less populous suburbs. Water, other than what can be collected on site, would simply become unavailable.

Cities such as Prichard, Alabama and Odessa, Texas, have faced major water outages and breaks in the past couple of years. Some of the pipes in New Orleans are more than 114 years old. Half of the 1530 miles of pipe there were installed before World War II.

When workers recently unearthed a large water supply pipe that had burst near Inglis, Florida, after some flooding, they found a 50-year-old lead pipe, lined with asbestos. No wonder Florida’s public water has some of the highest lead levels in the nation.

But the problem is not just a Southern one. Pipes in Philadelphia, for example go back to 1895. Boston and Washington, D.C. have some of similar vintage. 

Can Homes Be Plumb-Proofed

On the macro levels, home plumbing systems are under more stress than ever before too. The problem of contamination has largely been addressed. When copper supply lines are used, for example, they’re assembled with lead-free solder, or solder-free fittings. Many homes feature PEX or CPVC plumbing instead. 

But most homes are not designed to accommodate extreme events, as it affects plumbing. A power outage in freezing conditions can burst pipes within 24 hours, for instance, if they are not drained or protected.

A septic system, if not properly designed, can back up into the home in a flood event. Pump stations left running during a flood can burn out a pumping station or ruin a leach field.

Then there’s the thorny issue of chlorine in public water supplies. More efficient fixtures and faucets, ironically, mean water sits longer in household (and municipal) pipes, where chlorine may have a corrosive effect on some materials, leading to premature failures.

It’s no surprise, in this context, that a whole new category of leak detection products has emerged in the homebuilding sector. Given the rising level of risks, they’re a relatively inexpensive “insurance” against burst pipes and unseen leaks.

Broken Pipes as Metaphor for a Broken System?

It’s not just the age of plumbing in America that’s the problem. It’s the technology. Lead supply lines were incredibly common, and thousands of miles are still in operation, still poisoning our homes. But the crisis is multi-faceted. Most cities pay for more than half of their own infrastructure upgrades, with the rest coming from the Federal government.

That responsibility looks likely to increase, not decrease, under the incoming administration. That leaves cities with mostly bad choices for funding: raise property taxes or borrow more money. If you throw in the worsening impacts of Climate Change-induced flooding and extreme temperatures, the plumbing problem looks to get much worse in coming years.

As it begins to impact more affluent neighborhoods and the business community, perhaps we’ll see a shift in public awareness that leads to demand for infrastructure repair. When the taps run dry, maybe the dollars will begin to fly.