America’s Failing Water Infrastructure - If You Don’t Know, Now You Know

surprise reinauguration in August. And hopefully they can figure things out soon, because there's one particular part of America's infrastructure that's truly garbage right now. And I'm talking about America's water system. The question is why is it that bad? Well, let's find out in another edition of If you don't Know, Now You Know Water. It's Mike Pence's favorite soup, what has one of the essentials for humans of Bible along with food and the new Olivia Rodrigo album, which is Guys,

She Gets. But as important as it is in America, the infrastructure that transports the water is breaking down fasta than me listening to the Rodrigo album. It's an issue that's tough to see. Literally, water problems often they go unnoticed until it's too late, but it's a problem that's getting worse across the country with aging infrastructure. The nation's water infrastructure system gets a grade of D by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Thousands of dams and levees

are on the brink of failure. Our water infrastructure all over the country is literally hitting a breaking point everywhere. The last time there was a major rehall of water infrastructure, creating these new pipes and systems was about water systems were living off systems who are actually some of them built in the century. And at least five hundred and forty five municipalities across the country there are cast iron pipes that are now more than one hundred years old.

The aging infrastructure has led to a point where a water main breaks somewhere in this country every two minutes. God damn people, a pipe is bursting every two minutes. If America were a person who would have to wear depends. America's water pipes are so bad that they got a

D from the infrastructure experts. And keep in mind, a pipe that gets an F is just a puddle of water, and it's not surprising that these pipes are falling apart because some of them have been around since the nineteen century. So not only are they failing, but they're also probably a little racist. I mean, I guess on the bright side, though, this is definitely keeping America's enemies from invading. You know, North Korea is probably looking at America like the layout

is nice, but the plumbing is a disaster. I mean, it's it's just not worth the gut renovation. I don't know, guys, and look people, unless you live in Mario World, you probably don't spend a lot of your time thinking about pipes. But should because when the pipes that carry America's water become old and busted, the effects can be pretty drastic. Are aging water infrastructure systems are making clean, safe drinking

water unreliable in many parts of this country. The National Resources Defense Council estimates thirty million Americans drink community water that contains lead, and five and a half million get water that exceeds the e p a's maximum levels. Go East. In places like North Carolina, water has been contaminated by coal ash. Go West, it's nitrates from fertilizers. Water Here, we've let our water system just to lapidate to the point of lamps into our third world country. Here, our

waste water systems are crumbling. People are living with sewage, water and sewage in their streets, in their backyards. The city of Fort Lauderdale rushing to clean up more than two hundred million gallons of toxic sewage flooding the streets, seeping into houses and spilling into waterways, rivers of raw sewage flowing down streets, in ventnor. It's really gross. It's things real bad. I can't move my car. I'm not putting my car in there. That is a lake if

I ever saw one. Wow, that poor guy. What a bad deal to live next to a ship lake if I was in I'm trying to sell that house a sap. That's right, I'm selling some lakefront property. Oh cool, what lake, man? It's a lake? Do you want it or not? And ship lakes aside? Do you see that gross blue water? I mean, I don't care where you live. Taking a

bath should never turn into surprise gender reveal. And by the way, can America please stop comparing all of its failures to the Third World, Because every time there's an infrastructure problem or an insurrection, Americans are like, this is just like a third world country. Yes, is a third world country. Guys. It's not cool alright, because you don't hear Africans comparing their school shootings to America. They don't do that, you know why, because Africa doesn't have school shootings. Yeah,

while our children or soldiers. So how did America's water system end up this way in the first place. Well, basically, a lot of people in the past decided that rather than fixing a bunch of little problems back then, it will be easier to wait for them to become big problems and then leave them to us. Infrastructure is not particularly sexing, you know. It's something that seems easy to be to kick from one year to the next and

suddenly look up and it's been thirty years. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the federal government's capital spending on water infrastructure has dropped from six in seven to nine in two thousand seventeen. Repairing, improving, maintaining the nation's water systems requires big money. The American Water Works Association estimates it will take a trillion dollars for drinking

water alone. As costs to fix the systems continue to rise, Investment in water infrastructure has increasingly fall into state in local governments over the past few decades. The problem is that cities are burdened by dead and don't have the money to fix pipes. Milwaukee has a program to split the cost of replacing lead pipes with homeowners, but so

far only one percent has been done. The city is trying to replace seventy thousand lead laterals, and at a pace at about a thousand a year, it would take seventy years. Are you gonna be kidding me? Seventy years? In seventy years, we won't even need pipes, probably just absorb water through n f T s or something. I don't actually understand what they are because I'm like, what do you mean? I don't own the art. The only other time you hear something's gonna take seventy years to

fix is when you're on the phone with your cable company. Yeah, we can get a guy to come check out your router in Does any time between eleven pm and three pm work for you? What? I'll be dead by then? Do you want the appointment or archer? Okay, I'll take it. Know. As crazy as this is, I actually get why politicians never want to spend money on pipes because it's expensive and it's worring. I mean, think about it. If you open a new stadium, you get to hold a press

conference there, you know, with a big ribbon cutting. It's flashy, But how are you supposed to celebrate a new sewage pipe? Huh? Or you invite the press to what you take a huge dump at city hall. It's actually not a bad idea. But the reason this has gotten so bad and so expensive is because they waited so long to fix it. You see, people, you have to address problems when they come up or they just get worse. And that goes

for everything. Infrastructure relationships help even this mold that I probably should have gotten checked out before it grew into its own person Alex find buddy, you can probably put it up for another ten years. You know what, You're right more. I love this guy. And while the water situation is pretty put across the entire United States, there's one group of people in the West who are getting the shortest, dirtiest, most lead covered end of the stick.

And you can probably guess who it is, right who who? There is a close correlation between race and economics and whether or not you have clean water in the United States of America. That Newark is a largely poor, mostly black and Hispanic city, and its lead levels are among the highest in the US for large water systems. Some houses here tested four times the federal limit. Much of Mississippi's largest city is beginning it's fourth week without safe

drinking water coming out of faucets. Jackson residents, about eighty percent of whom are black, remain under a system wide order to boil water for the past eight years. Keystone, West Virginia has been under a boil water advisory eight years. It's so common it doesn't even make headlines anymore. You can run the water sometimes and it's as brown as I am. Good Lord Ward, the water is as brown

as I am. I mean, when people are asking for more black representation, they weren't talking about the water supply. I know that. And this is extremely messed up that so many black people in America don't have access to clean drinking water. I mean, I know reparations might not happen anytime soon, but maybe America can start with the water filter. I will say, though, it's impressive how even

with this shitty water supply, black still don't crack. Can you imagine how good black people would look with proper hydration? Who are we? So? There you have it. America's water systems are on the verge of collapse, and the country needs to start fixing them now. This isn't a problem that can be kicked down the road anymore, people, especially when that road is buried six ft under ship Lake. And if you don't know, now you know what's the

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