The State of Our Infrastructure

What happens when the world of anti-tax rhetoric meets the world of declining and critical  infrastructure?  What happens is embedded in these two stories from the January 22, 2011 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

The first story is entitled Water Demands Run Into Antitax Push - -

Lockeford, Calif. - - Some of the farmers here in the rural Central Valley have been seeking a new tax levy for their water system.  Dwindling groundwater, they say, is endangering the water supply.  "None of us likes to pay taxes.  But this is our water," said Tom Hoffman, a pro-tax farmer who has 140 acres of wine grapes here and until recently sat on the local water board.  But voters here already have rejected the proposed levy, and last fall elected a firmly antitax group of members to the North San Joaqin Water Conservation District Board.  "No new taxes," said Hugh Scanlon, a newly elected Republican member.  That "is the pledge I made to the people."


Infrastructure as a driving force behind economic development, food production, and long-term growth meets the complex world of local politics, big ag-businesses, long-term water supply concerns, and the "moral issue" of the fact that "money in the bank doesn't create rain."

The second story -- Pipeline Probe Finds Welding Flaws - - provides insight into one of the causes of the San Bruno, Calif. gas line explosion in September 2010 that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes.  The pipeline is owned and operated by PG&E.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Friday released a metallurgical analysis of approximately 55 feet of pipe that appeared to rule out several possible causes of the pipeline failure, including corrosion or external blunt force, such as from a backhoe, and to suggest the blame could involve substandard welds.  The 30-inch diameter pipeline, build in the 1950s, had length-wise welds.  The investigation has uncovered discrepancies between the types of pipe records suggested were in the area and the actual pipes found there.

Both stories point out a series of collective and interconnected problems.  A lack of public respect for the risks and uncertainties associated with declining infrastructure, embedded in a world of inadequate funding and revenue sources, combined the mysteries of exactly what is below the surface (having something in the ground 60-years is one thing, having something in the ground 60-years and not fully understanding what it is - - that is a whole new problem) -- all of this spells trouble for our most critical and interconnected systems.  Energy and water - - both are at risk for further decline and uncertainties.