The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has released its 2001 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure in which the nation’s infrastructure received a cumulative grade of “D+” for twelve infrastructure areas. Causes for the low grade include: explosive population growth and school enrollment, which outpace the rate of current investment and maintenance efforts.
Energy generation and transmission, a new addition to the 2001 Report Card, scored a “D+” for its growing inability to meet the population’s demand for power. More than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity need to be added each year until 2008 to keep pace with the 1.8 percent annual growth in demand. Since 1990, actual capacity has increased only about 7,000 MW per year, an annual shortfall of 30 percent nationwide.
Efforts to reduce hazardous waste have improved that category’s grade from a “D-” to a “D+,” primarily because effective regulation and enforcement of current policies have largely halted the contamination of new sites.
Most states have effectively sought alternatives to dumping solid waste into landfills by encouraging recycling—up 50 percent since 1990—and converting waste to energy. Approximately 17 percent of the nation’s solid waste is now converted to energy.
Wastewater declined from a “D+” in 1998 to a “D,” while drinking water remained a “D.” Wastewater and drinking water systems are both quintessential examples of aged systems that need to be updated. For example, some sewer systems are 100 years old. Aged drinking water systems are structurally obsolete.
To remedy America’s current and looming problem, ASCE estimates a needed $1.3 trillion investment over the next five years and calls for a renewed partnership between citizens, local, state and federal governments, and the private sector.
The infrastructure areas for the report card were assessed by an advisory panel comprised of 11 civil engineers representing the broad spectrum of civil engineering. Each category was evaluated on the basis of condition and performance, capacity versus need, and funding versus need. For more information, including examples of the condition of infrastructure locally and state statistics for many of the infrastructure areas cited, access the 2001 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.
