Frequently Asked Questions: Water Infrastructure & Sustainability

• What does EPA mean by "sustainable water infrastructure"?
• What can be said generally about the age of the nation's infrastructure?
• What is the useful life of infrastructure?
• Why is it important to properly maintain infrastructure assets?
• What is the role of infrastructure planning?
• How can aging drinking water and wastewater pipes affect water quality and the cost of water service?
• What does the "water infrastructure gap" mean?

What does EPA mean by "sustainable water infrastructure"?
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development released Our Common Future, also known as the Bruntland Report, which defined sustainable development as that which "meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." The current U.S. population benefits from the investments that were made over the past several decades to build our nation's water infrastructure.

EPA seeks to promote practices that encourage water sector utilities and their customers to address existing needs so that future generations will not be left to address the approaching wave of needs resulting from aging water infrastructure. To be on a sustainable path, our investments need to result in efficient infrastructure and infrastructure systems and be at a pace and level that allow our water sector to provide the desired levels of service over the long term.

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What can be said generally about the age of the nation's water infrastructure?
While some of our water infrastructure is over 100 years old, much of it was built in the period following World War II. Looking at pipes only, EPA's 2000 survey on community water systems found that in systems that serve more than 100,000 people, about 40 percent of drinking water pipes are greater than 40 years old. However, it is important to note that age, in and of itself, does not necessarily point to problems. If a system is well maintained, it can operate over a long time period.

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What is the useful life of infrastructure? Treatment plants typically have a useful life of 20-50 years before they require expansion or rehabilitation. Pipes have life cycles that can range from 15 to over 100 years, depending on the type of material and where they are laid. With pipes, the material used and proper installation of the pipe can be a greater indicator of failure than age.

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Why is it important to properly maintain infrastructure assets?
Water infrastructure is expensive, and the monetary and social costs incurred when infrastructure fails can be large. Therefore, it only makes sense to ensure that our infrastructure assets are properly managed. If a system is well maintained, it can operate safely over a long time period. Utilities need to carry out an ongoing process of oversight, evaluation, maintenance and replacement of their assets to maximize the useful life of infrastructure. EPA encourages utilities to actively plan for and manage their infrastructure—by understanding its condition and making risk-based decisions on maintaining and improving infrastructure.

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What is the role of infrastructure planning?
Planning is essential for water and wastewater infrastructure sustainability. The infrastructure we build today will be with us for a long time and, therefore, must be efficient to operate, offer the best solution in meeting the needs of a community, and be coordinated with infrastructure investments in other sectors such as transportation and housing. It is both important and challenging to ensure that a plan is in place to renew and replace it at the right time, which may be years away. Replacing an infrastructure asset too soon means not benefiting from the remaining useful life of that asset. Replacing an asset too late can lead to expensive, emergency repairs that are significantly more expensive than those which are planned.

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How can aging drinking water and wastewater pipes affect water quality and the cost of water service?
Long-term corrosion reduces a pipe's carrying capacity, requiring increasing investments in power and pumping. When water or sewer pipes age to the point of failure, the result can be contamination of drinking water, the release of sewage into our surface waters or basements, and high costs both to replace the pipes and repair any resulting damage.

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What does the "water infrastructure gap" mean?
The term references a 2002 EPA report that compared current spending trends at the nation's drinking water and wastewater utilities to the expenses they can expect to incur for both capital and operations and maintenance costs. The "gap" is the difference between projected and needed spending and was found to be over $500 billion over a 20-year period. Learn more about the water infrastructure gap on the U.S Water Infrastructure Needs & the Funding Gap page.

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