The ongoing drought in the American West has been raising concerns about the nation’s water use and supply. Water scarcity has both political and economical ramifications.
The Hamilton Project has taken the recent water crisis seriously and has written a paper highlighting nine economic facts that provide relevant background and context to this crisis happening in the United States.
The ninth fact in this paper is particularly interesting: the fact that there are more water systems than schools in the United States.
Water Online reports:
“The United States has a complex network of water systems designed to meet a variety of objectives. In 2011 there were more than 152,000 water systems in service across the country (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] 2013). Indeed, our country has more water systems than it has elementary, middle, and high schools and post-secondary institutions combined (National Center for Education Statistics 2014). The severe fragmentation of the water sector not only poses a challenge to regulators, but also can inhibit the diffusion and take-up of new technologies (Matheson 2013).
Water systems vary by function. About two thirds of U.S. water systems are seasonal or do not serve the same population year-round, ranging from campgrounds and gas stations serving one hundred or fewer people, to the New York State Fair serving about 2 million Americans (EPA 2013, 2014). The remaining 50,000 or so water systems, called Community Water Systems, are in service year-round and provide water to at least twenty-five people and often far more (EPA 2013). The EPA estimated that Community Water Systems served almost 300 million people in 2011, or approximately 96 percent of the U.S. population (ibid.).
Water systems vary greatly in terms of number of customers served. For example, roughly 250 million people are served by approximately the largest 4,200 Community Water Systems. An additional 50 million people are served by roughly 50,000 smaller Community Water Systems. (As mentioned above, the remaining 100,000 water systems are seasonal or serve transient populations.) As illustrated in figure 9, the majority of water systems are very small, serving 500 or fewer people. Variation in system size presents challenges. For example, small and specialized water systems may lack the institutional capacity to raise the necessary funding for costly repairs, new equipment, and meeting EPA regulations (Cooper n.d.). Small water systems would likely benefit from new technologies: in the latest EPA report, the smallest water systems (those serving 500 or fewer people) were responsible for approximately 74,000 water quality violations (EPA 2013).”
Inframanage.com observes from the Water Online article that the US has a large number of water systems.
From discussions with US colleagues and industry practitioners, Inframanage.com has noted that the management of these water systems can range from voluntary custodians through to large professional engineering, operations, and management teams.
Having good water utility infrastructure management plans in place can assist with the long term planning and management of water systems from the smallest to the largest.
One of the aims of Inframanage.com is to provide resources to infrastructure managers to assist them with the job of managing infrastructure for their communities.
We would encourage readers of this blog to look at the resources on the site, and use them as required.
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