An sludge pump built in the 1930s still operates at the Konawa, Okla. wastewater treatment plant.

Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

America Can Fix Its Crumbling Water Infrastructure, If You Help Pay For It

  • Logan Layden

Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

An sludge pump built in the 1930s is still in use at the Konawa, Okla. wastewater treatment plant.

New Deal programs in the 1930s and federal construction grants through the ’70s helped build America’s vast water infrastructure.

Now the rapidly aging treatment plants and pipelines need to be replaced, but the generous programs of the past are long gone. Ratepayers will ultimately have to shoulder a large portion of the $1 trillion burden.

Few communities have more water problems than Konawa, Okla., where, after 80 years, the town’s pipes finally failed citizens.