If you heard someone say that “our infrastructure is falling apart,” you would probably think of potholes in the road or communities in need of a facelift. But that is just the infrastructure you can easily see every day. There is another universe of infrastructure under our feet that in many places can be much older than the roads we drive on.
Underground, out of sight and out of mind, is a massive network of water systems that work 24/7/365 to bring clean, safe drinking water to us and take away water after it has been used to be treated. According to National Geographic, the U.S. has 1.2 million miles of water mains—that’s 26 miles of water mains for every mile of interstate highway. Many of those pipes were built in the 1800s or early 1900s, and many of those systems were built for cities of a century ago, not modern metropolises.
In Hampton Roads, there are three unseen public water systems that work independently of one another to manage the flow of water in Hampton Roads. The drinking water system utilizes more than 6,500 miles of pipes to deliver safe drinking water to homes and businesses across the region. Then the wastewater system steps in to carry dirty water away when we send it down the drain. It takes more than 5,800 miles of pipes to carry our dirty water to treatment plants to be sanitized before it rejoins our local waterways. Last but certainly not least in a coastal community is the stormwater system. The stormwater system collects all the water that falls on a rainy day and tries to keep it from flooding streets, neighborhoods and businesses. This water is carried out to a nearby stream or river without any processing to remove pollutants.
If these systems failed us one day, Hampton Roads would wake up to a very unpleasant morning. Imagine a day without water. You couldn’t brush your teeth, flush the toilet or take a shower. You couldn’t give your dog a bowl of water or make your coffee (#tragic). You couldn’t leave your home because of a flooded street. And that is just residential use. Commercial use is a huge component of water consumption as well. Everything from breweries and restaurants to manufacturing plants need water too. Water keeps our economy flowing.
askHRgreen.org knows that water is essential, and that’s why we are part of a nationwide educational effort called “Imagine a Day Without Water” during October 6-8. Dozens of water agencies, mayors, engineers, contractors, business leaders, community members, schools and more are joining the effort, because even though water is absolutely essential to everything we do, it too often is forgotten. Again: out of sight, out of mind.
But it needs to be on all of our minds because our system here in Hampton Roads is probably older than you realize. And while our local utility departments work hard to bring safe and reliable water to customers, the region should know that just because the infrastructure is invisible to us, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Hampton Roads may be surrounded by water, it falls from the sky and flows through our rivers, but it is far from free. Processing it, treating it, bringing it to and from your house is a costly process. No matter how much or little water we use, the price tag for these processes stays the same or may go up to finance repairs to our aging systems. Yet the average residential water bill in Hampton Roads is still less than other household bills like cable or cellphones. When you think of everything that water provides, public water systems are a great value.
The good news is, we can be ahead of the curve. Deferred maintenance, that is waiting until a water main breaks or a system breaks down to make repairs—is the most expensive repairs possible. But if we continually maintain the system, if we upgrade our pipes, if we implement smarter technology that spot weaknesses in the system before they turn into breaks, then we can save money in the long run. And if we keep doing a good job, Hampton Roads will never have to imagine a day without water.
It’s not just water – get the full picture!