Bad levees part of big infrastructure problem
The June floods once again delivered the message: America’s infrastructure is antiquated and inadequate.
As floodwaters moved from rain-drenched Iowa down through the Mississippi basin, occasionally replenished by another downpour, levee after levee was overpowered, despite desperate efforts to shore them up.
Lincoln was lucky this time.
As a story in last week’s Journal Star reported, levees along Salt Creek are high enough only to protect against a 50-year flood. And they might not even offer that protection because they were formed of soil containing a high level of calcium, which dissolves in water.
The inadequacy of the levees is just one in a long list of problems with the nation’s infrastructure, symbolized by events like the collapse of a bridge last summer in Minneapolis and an underground steam pipe explosion that blew a crater in a New York City street last summer and burned two people.
In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s infrastructure a grade of D, and said it would take $1.6 trillion to put it in good repair.
America invests only 2.4 percent of its gross national product in infrastructure, according to the Economist magazine. In comparison, Europe invests about 5 percent and China about 9 percent.
Locally the problems are serious.
* Lincoln has a backlog of more than $135 million in road and street projects.
* In Nebraska, numerous communities dump untreated sewage into rivers and streams.
Plattsmouth and Omaha, which have combined storm water and sewage systems, are repeat offenders. When their systems are overwhelmed by heavy rain, the cities dump untreated sewage, loaded with fecal matter and various pathogens, right into the Missouri River.
Last summer the city of Beatrice dumped 1.5 million gallons of untreated sewage a day into the Big Blue River when its treatment plant was inundated by floodwater.
Various proposals have been made to address the problem. At the federal level, Sen. Chuck Hagel and Sen. Chris Dodd , D-Conn., last year proposed one of the few fresh ideas for funding infrastructure – creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to leverage private investment for big projects. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has endorsed a variation of this concept.
In reality, however, the level of public apathy remains high. And every year more communities experience infrastructure failure. Floods and other tragedies are harsh and sometimes a heart-breaking way to win converts for the idea that America needs to invest more in the basics.
As floodwaters moved from rain-drenched Iowa down through the Mississippi basin, occasionally replenished by another downpour, levee after levee was overpowered, despite desperate efforts to shore them up.
Lincoln was lucky this time.
As a story in last week’s Journal Star reported, levees along Salt Creek are high enough only to protect against a 50-year flood. And they might not even offer that protection because they were formed of soil containing a high level of calcium, which dissolves in water.
The inadequacy of the levees is just one in a long list of problems with the nation’s infrastructure, symbolized by events like the collapse of a bridge last summer in Minneapolis and an underground steam pipe explosion that blew a crater in a New York City street last summer and burned two people.
In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s infrastructure a grade of D, and said it would take $1.6 trillion to put it in good repair.
America invests only 2.4 percent of its gross national product in infrastructure, according to the Economist magazine. In comparison, Europe invests about 5 percent and China about 9 percent.
Locally the problems are serious.
* Lincoln has a backlog of more than $135 million in road and street projects.
* In Nebraska, numerous communities dump untreated sewage into rivers and streams.
Plattsmouth and Omaha, which have combined storm water and sewage systems, are repeat offenders. When their systems are overwhelmed by heavy rain, the cities dump untreated sewage, loaded with fecal matter and various pathogens, right into the Missouri River.
Last summer the city of Beatrice dumped 1.5 million gallons of untreated sewage a day into the Big Blue River when its treatment plant was inundated by floodwater.
Various proposals have been made to address the problem. At the federal level, Sen. Chuck Hagel and Sen. Chris Dodd , D-Conn., last year proposed one of the few fresh ideas for funding infrastructure – creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to leverage private investment for big projects. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has endorsed a variation of this concept.
In reality, however, the level of public apathy remains high. And every year more communities experience infrastructure failure. Floods and other tragedies are harsh and sometimes a heart-breaking way to win converts for the idea that America needs to invest more in the basics.
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