Across america, cities and towns, homes and businesses all depend upon one basic resource. Modern civilization and life itself would be impossible without it. Woman okay, so today, were going to look at how do we get our water . Narrator and today, its a matter of simply turning on the tap. So often, we forget about the value of water. Water is a commodity that is essential to life. 100 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine turning on the tap water. And now, its an expectation. Narrator over 300 Million People live in the United States. And each person uses an average of 100 gallons of water every day. Man what it takes to actually make clean water is somewhat a mystery to most customers. Woman so how does water get from the river into your house, or here at school . Woman somebody has to bring that water to us, and somebody has to take it away when were finished with it. Man the Water Infrastructure is vital for disease protection, fire protection, basic sanitation, economic d
The end of useful life. Woman what to do . Wssc is working on that costly problem right now. Brunhart its not only true here, but its true throughout our nation. Narrator across the United States, cities and towns are facing the challenge of aging and outdated Drinking Water, wastewater, and stormWater Infrastructure. Its a national problem. But it needs to be approached system by system. Allbee lets frame the systems in terms of the proper context. We have around 16,000 wastewater systems. We dont have a single wastewater system we have 16,000 of them. We have about 54,000 Drinking Water systems. Narrator issues facing new york city are very different from those in los angeles. And challenges facing small towns are very different from those in metropolitan areas. Man we have to have water supply for health purposes, for fire protection, and the economy. Without it, things simply cant exist. Woman we have good health in this country, in part, because we have clean water. And we shouldn
Of 100 gallons of water every day. Man what it takes to actually make clean water is somewhat a mystery to most customers. Woman so how does water get from the river into your house, or here at school . Woman somebody has to bring that water to us, and somebody has to take it away when were finished with it. Man the Water Infrastructure is vital for disease protection, fire protection, basic sanitation, economic development, and for our quality of life. Man you just cant visualize all the assets that are under our feet. We have about two million miles of pipe in this nation. If youre Walking Around in an urban area, youre probably stepping on a pipe. Man our grandparents paid for, and put in for the first time, these large Distribution Systems. Woman and in many cases, its not been touched since. Man were at a critical turning point. Much of that infrastructure is wearing out. Narrator our Water Infrastructure is made up of complex, underground systems that function continuously. These
Creating a combined sewer overflow, or cso. There are over 700 communities in the United States with combined sewer systems. The other approach was to separate wastewater from stormwater, using two pipe networks. This separate system simply carries the stormwater away from the city. But even separate systems pollute the watershed. In developed areas, concrete and other impervious services prevent water from naturally soaking into the land. As the rainwater moves over the roads and concrete expanse, it captures trash and invisible chemicals, sending them straight to the nearest waterway untreated. When engineers first designed americas Water Infrastructure the Drinking Water, wastewater, and stormwater systems they were some of the most advanced in the world. But the infrastructure is growing old. And population growth and development, particularly in urban areas, have made it difficult for original system designs to meet modern Health Standards and reliably satisfy demand. Man our wate
Across america, cities and towns, homes and businesses all depend upon one basic resource. Modern civilization and life itself would be impossible without it. Woman okay, so today, were going to look at how do we get our water . Narrator and today, its a matter of simply turning on the tap. So often, we forget about the value of water. Water is a commodity that is essential to life. 100 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine turning on the tap water. And now, its an expectation. Narrator over 300 Million People live in the United States. And each person uses an average of 100 gallons of water every day. Man what it takes to actually make clean water is somewhat a mystery to most customers. Woman so how does water get from the river into your house, or here at school . Woman somebody has to bring that water to us, and somebody has to take it away when were finished with it. Man the Water Infrastructure is vital for disease protection, fire protection, basic sanitation, economic d