Beset by over 300,000 water main breaks each year, America's underground water pipes are showing the effects of age and chronic corrosion.
Using water main breaks as the most objective measure of underground pipe failures, the study reviewed data submitted by 308 water utilities in the U.S. and Canada, serving over 52 million people with nearly 200,000 miles of pipes.
In determining the performance and longevity of life-sustaining water pipes, the study focused on the four leading pipe materials still in service: cast iron and asbestos cement as well as polyvinyl chloride and ductile iron.
As the deterioration of cast iron pipes continues to accelerate, the corrosion problems afflicting thinner-walled ductile iron pipes can be expected to grow exponentially, as they follow the same path as their older, thicker predecessors.
Water bills are surging nationwide as utilities try to replace or repair corroded metallic pipes and overflowing sewer systems.
"Right now, we lose up to 30 percent of urban water just to leaks in the system," Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, told CBS-13 in Sacramento.
Failure to update thinking in pipe selection can lead local procurement officials to choose corrosion-prone pipes without a thorough financial evaluation of the long-term consequences of limiting their pipe material options.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/us-drinking-water-supply-is-at-risk-from-deteriorating-pipes
Using water main breaks as the most objective measure of underground pipe failures, the study reviewed data submitted by 308 water utilities in the U.S. and Canada, serving over 52 million people with nearly 200,000 miles of pipes.
In determining the performance and longevity of life-sustaining water pipes, the study focused on the four leading pipe materials still in service: cast iron and asbestos cement as well as polyvinyl chloride and ductile iron.
As the deterioration of cast iron pipes continues to accelerate, the corrosion problems afflicting thinner-walled ductile iron pipes can be expected to grow exponentially, as they follow the same path as their older, thicker predecessors.
Water bills are surging nationwide as utilities try to replace or repair corroded metallic pipes and overflowing sewer systems.
"Right now, we lose up to 30 percent of urban water just to leaks in the system," Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, told CBS-13 in Sacramento.
Failure to update thinking in pipe selection can lead local procurement officials to choose corrosion-prone pipes without a thorough financial evaluation of the long-term consequences of limiting their pipe material options.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/us-drinking-water-supply-is-at-risk-from-deteriorating-pipes
No comments:
Post a Comment