Three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, there is no definitive record of how many levees exist in the United States, or their condition — and no money in the economic stimulus bill to fix any.
Nationwide, the number of high-hazard dams — those whose failure would probably kill people— needing repairs nearly quintupled in six years.
One of every three urban bridges is deficient. Blocked or broken sewers spill as much as 10 billion gallons of raw sewage annually — enough to fill 400,000 backyard swimming pools. And, though 37 percent of schools use portable buildings, school construction funds are plunging.
Those are some of the findings in a new report card on the nation’s infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The report, released Tuesday, estimates it would cost $2.2 trillion to restore infrastructure systems to good condition in five years.
Generally, the society found the nation’s infrastructure in worse condition today than it was two decades ago. It gave an overall grade of D. Five of 15 elements — drinking water, wastewater, roads, levees and inland waterways, which rely on century-old locks — rated a D-minus.
“We’re driving on roads that were built by Eisenhower, and we’re sending our children to schools that were built by Roosevelt,” said Andrew Herrmann, who chaired the report’s advisory council.
“Basically we’re just taking our infrastructure for granted,” he said. “It’s what made America very prosperous. Now we’re letting it fall into disrepair.”
The 2009 economic stimulus bill helped by putting “a little light” on failing systems, but infrastructure projects claimed barely one-tenth of the $787 billion total, Herrmann said. “It’s really just a down payment on what we really need.”
The society released a brief summary of its 2009 report in January to highlight its vision of infrastructure needs before Congress voted on the economic stimulus bill.
In a state-by-state breakdown, the society rated roads, bridges and drinking water as Colorado’s most pressing problems.
The Denver Post reported last week that the state now rates 47 percent of its highway miles and 125 of its bridges as poor. Last year, salmonella bacteria poisoned Alamosa’s drinking water, dead squirrels and live birds were found in drinking-water tanks, and one town defiantly drank unfiltered water despite state orders to boil it.
The report advocates a federal trust fund to help finance “nearly $1 trillion in critical drinking water and wastewater investments” over two decades, and it suggests short-term gasoline-tax increases to improve congested and crumbling roads.
Colorado findings
Some key data in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2009 report card:
• Eighteen percent of Colorado’s bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete.
• There are 352 high-hazard dams in Colorado. A high-hazard dam is defined one whose failure would cause a loss of life and significant property damage. Two percent of those have no emergency action plan.
• Nine of Colorado’s 1,935 dams are in need of rehabilitation to meet state dam-safety standards.
• Colorado’s drinking-water infrastructure needs an investment of $5.32 billion over the next 20 years.
• Colorado reported an unmet need of $440 million for its state public outdoor recreation facilities and parkland acquisition.
• Thirty-two percent of the state’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and 31 percent of its major urban highways are congested.
• Colorado has $2.13 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs.
