{"id":63499,"date":"2022-09-13T07:13:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T12:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=63499"},"modified":"2022-09-13T07:13:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T12:13:43","slug":"intense-heat-and-flooding-are-wreaking-havoc-on-power-and-water-systems-as-climate-change-batters-americas-aging-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=63499","title":{"rendered":"Intense heat and flooding are wreaking havoc on power and water systems as climate change batters America\u2019s aging infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Intense heat and flooding are wreaking havoc on power and water systems as climate change batters America\u2019s aging infrastructure<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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The 1960s and 1970s were a\u00a0golden age of infrastructure development<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S., with the expansion of the interstate system and widespread construction of new water treatment, wastewater and flood control systems reflecting national priorities in public health and national defense. But infrastructure requires maintenance, and, eventually, it has to be replaced.<\/p>\n

That hasn\u2019t been happening in many parts of the country. Increasingly, extreme heat and storms are putting roads, bridges, water systems and other infrastructure under stress.<\/p>\n

Two recent examples \u2013 an intense heat wave that pushed California\u2019s\u00a0power grid to its limits<\/a>\u00a0in September 2022, and the\u00a0failure of the water system<\/a>\u00a0in Jackson, Mississippi, amid flooding in August \u2013 show how a growing maintenance backlog and increasing climate change are turning the 2020s and 2030s into a golden age of infrastructure failure.<\/p>\n

I am a\u00a0civil engineer<\/a>\u00a0whose work focuses on the impacts of climate change on infrastructure. Often, low-income communities and communities of color like Jackson see the least investment in infrastructure replacements and repairs.<\/p>\n

Crumbling bridge and water systems<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United States is consistently falling short on funding infrastructure maintenance. A report by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker\u2019s Volcker Alliance in 2019 estimated the U.S. has a\u00a0US$1 trillion backlog of needed repairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over 220,000 bridges across the country \u2013 about 33% of the total \u2013\u00a0require rehabilitation or replacement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A water main break now occurs somewhere in the U.S.\u00a0every two minutes<\/a>, and an estimated 6 million gallons of treated water are lost each day. This is happening at the same time the western United States is implementing water restrictions amid the driest 20-year span in 1,200 years. Similarly, drinking water distribution in the United States relies on over 2 million miles of pipes that have limited life spans.<\/p>\n