TRAVERSE CITY — Flooding is the most common and expensive natural disaster in America, accounting for two-thirds of the costs of all such disasters in the U.S., according the National
That doesn’t account for the billions in other infrastructure needs, from drinking water and sewers to roads and bridges.
Federal estimates say fixes and updates to the nation’s water infrastructure system could cost $188 billion over the next 20 years, said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Consortium, which focuses on Great Lakes restoration issues. Michigan’s share of that is about $15 billion.
“That’s not even taking the disasters and increased precipitation into account,” Rubin said. “We know we’ve been under-investing in it.”
The infrastructure bill now under consideration in Congress would spend $1.2 trillion on a range of projects, including roads, bridges, broadband and public transportation. It would also include $55 billion toward water improvement.
All eight waterways recorded average nitrogen, phosphorous levels well over the upper guidelines. One waterway, known as ‘County Drain’ has the worst water quality. The average amount of phosphorous in the drain is 125 times higher than the upper guideline. Average nitrogen readings in the County Drain are 25 times higher than the upper guidelines, the average zinc level is nearly nine times the upper guideline and the average faecal coliform reading is 1.3 times the upper guidelines
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Ahuriri Estuary (Te Whanganui-a-Orotū), Napier, includes Pandora Pond, a popular recreation site. Of the eight waterways monitored all but one exceeded the upper guideline for average zinc levels.