Carlisle, PA is Infrastructure Asset Management Planning for the Future of its Sewer System

In the 1950s, towns and cities across America invested in wastewater and water infrastructure, improving and constructing all the necessary systems and installing pipes in place.

Then the focus of these towns and cities moved to other things until now.

It becomes more obvious every day that the aging infrastructure that was out of sight and out of mind for the last 50 years is fast needing attention all over the United States.

This year Carlisle, Pennsylvania has started a 15-year plan to upgrade its sanitary sewer system as parts of it are over 100 years old.

The Sentinel Cumberlink observes:

“Postponing pipe upgrades results in higher costs down the road. Had we planned ahead and spread the costs over many more years, Carlisle residents would be facing smaller increases in their sewer bills now. We should not repeat this mistake.

In 15 years, when Carlisle’s wastewater pipes are repaired, we should not wait another 50 years until the next problem. It is true postponing some repairs makes sense; future generations will be wealthier than we are today and new technologies will come along to make the process of repair or replacement easier. Nevertheless, our grandchildren will thank us if we starting building up a reserve fund today to pay for the costs of future repairs and replacements.”

This type of thinking is a good stepping stone into long-term infrastructure asset management, which requires planning for the near future and the far-away future.

Carlisle is recognizing this infrastructure asset management planning challenge and acting upon it.

It is also good to see Carlisle planning its wastewater pipe repairs over a 15-year period.  

This length of the program indicates an achievable and affordable approach.

Observing infrastructure management successes and failures demonstrates that creating artificial peaks in construction is sometimes unavoidable, but also risks producing solutions that are not optimal long term, or in terms of cost.

PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Kerr via Flickr Creative Commons License