Out of Sight, Out of Mind: America’s Aging Infrastructure Desperately Needs an Overhaul

Posted by Content Coordinator on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES CENTER
“Few things are as dramatic as a levee break or a bridge collapse. Over the last few years, the tragedies associated with Hurricane Katrina and the I-35 bridge failure in Minneapolis, as well as a series of less catastrophic events, have put the serious state of America’s public works in the spotlight and sparked renewed discussions about the country’s aging infrastructure. Meanwhile, though, another infrastructure crisis is happening largely out of sight and out of mind: the country’s drinking water and wastewater systems are deteriorating. And while these systems rarely make the national news, the threat that deteriorating facilities poses to hard-won environmental and public health improvements is no less real. ‘The economic well-being of the United States is dependent on the reliability, safety, and security of its physical infrastructure,’ says Patricia Dalton, managing director of the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Physical Infrastructure Issues, in recent testimony before Congress. ‘The nation’s infrastructure is vast and affects the daily lives of virtually all Americans…'”

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: America’s Aging Infrastructure Desperately Needs an Overhaul

About National Environmental Services Center
www.nesc.wvu.edu
“NESC assists small and rural communities with their drinking water, wastewater, environmental training, infrastructure resilience, and utility management needs and helps them find solutions to problems they face. Our staff of environmental specialists, engineers, certified operators, writers, editors, and trainers understand the latest technologies, regulations, and industry developments. NESC is based at West Virginia University (WVU), one of the nation’s major research institutions.”

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