Aging water systems at risk of disasters
Old, fragile water systems threaten supply and quality — and for many small towns, they won’t be cheap to repair
ODESSA — City officials are still investigating what caused a massive water line break that left Odessa without water for 48 hours last month. But they’ve shared one important detail: The water line was about 60 years old.
“Aging water systems are common throughout the country,” Thomas Kerr, Odessa’s utilities director, said during a news conference the day after the line broke. “It’s often difficult for municipalities to be able to afford to manage those systems as they age. That’s the situation we find ourselves in.”
The outage in Odessa exposed the city to a reality that happens all over Texas and the nation — water supply systems have become increasingly more vulnerable to disasters.
In February, many Laredo residents had their water cut off because of a break in 50-year-old pipes. In May, Bell County residents were asked to use 50 percent less water after a leak. Last month, a water line break caused areas of College Station to flood.
The American Society of Civil Engineers issued a report last year that gave Texas a C- in the quality of its drinking water, calling it “mediocre (and) requires attention.”
The number of sanitary sewer overflows more than doubled from 2,500 to nearly 6,000 between 2016 and 2019, according to the report, and they’re a threat to Texas’ lakes, rivers and beaches.
Ken Rainwater, a professor of civil, environmental and construction engineering at Texas Tech University, said a lot of factors can cause critical infrastructure to fail, and in the case of water pipes, it could be anything from how old they are to what material they’re made from. Other factors are the conditions surrounding the pipes, including the area’s climate and whether they’re buried near high-traffic areas.
In an interview with the Odessa American, Kerr said 40 percent of the city’s pipes are made of cast iron and an additional 20 percent are made from iron-based materials. Cast iron was widely available and used after World War II, when a lot of cities were growing their infrastructure.
“We’ve learned that cast-iron pipes have lives of about 50 years, so (Odessa) got past 60 years,” he said. “But it’s like you deciding, ‘How long am I going to wait to change the tires on my car?’ ”
Water boil notices are a good indicator of how troublesome a city’s water infrastructure is becoming. Rainwater said when a water system is shut down, it takes time to start disinfecting and cleaning water again before it’s safe to use, which is typically why water boil notices are issued.
According to data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 2021 was the worst year for water boil notices in the last decade, with 3,866 reported. The high number could be linked to the February 2021 freeze when 1,655 water boil notices were issued.
On average in the last 10 years, East Texas has experienced more water boil notices than any other area per year. Harris County had an average of 130.09 notices per year from 2012 to this year, the highest of any Texas county. By comparison, Travis County’s average was 42.27 per year, and Bexar County’s average was only 5.82.
President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which passed in November, promises to bring some much needed financial relief to Texas. According to the Texas Water Development Board, it has not received funds yet but is expecting to get nearly $508 million this fiscal year.
Some experts say it’s still not enough.
“People talk about it like it’s going to be this infrastructure renaissance, and frankly, I just disagree with that,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “It’s more money, certainly. It might go to some communities that really need it, but it is not the silver bullet for our water infrastructure needs by any means.”
Another issue facing Texas’ water infrastructure is the ongoing drought, the worst in the last decade. About 80 percent of Texas has been facing drought conditions most of the year, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“When it gets dry, the soil expands and contracts. And when it does that, it impacts everything underground,” Fowler said.
Last year’s winter storm also caused pipes to freeze and burst throughout the state.
In colder states, water infrastructure is typically placed further underground to prevent freezing — something Texas might need to consider in the future. In the meantime, Fowler said, infrastructure upgrades need to happen sooner rather than later.
“If you delay investments, or you have a project that’s ready to go on the shelf, it’s going to cost more money if you go further down the road.”