This article orginially featured in Philadelphia Business Journal.
Water companies and other utilities are sounding an alarm — and trying to drum up money — to improve the services they provide.
They’ve dubbed next week “Infrastructure Week,” and the idea is to call attention to pipes, bridges, and other bones of a community that people don’t often think about until something goes wrong.
Several years ago, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued a report card for the nation’s infrastructure, and America earned a D-plus — just above a failing grade.
“If you look at what happened, say, in Flint, Michigan — where they didn’t take care of their water infrastructure — you can see that taking care of water infrastructure is important to public health and public well-being,” said Andy Kricun, chief engineer for the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority.
He says Camden, New Jersey, is planting rain gardens, opening parks, and replacing pipes to improve the city’s combined storm water and sewer system.
Go to Newsworks.org for how the infrastructure investment could impact the city’s economy.
