Post-Flint America has realized that it cannot afford to be ignorant to the dangers of its water pipe conditions. In his article “$300 Billion War Beneath the Street: Fighting to Replace America’s Water Pipes,” Hiroko Tabuchi (2017) elaborates on how post-Flint America can reinstate its inhabitants’ trust in the condition of the water that they drink. There are currently 1.6 million miles of water and sewer pipes that will reach an average age of 45 years by 2020, and there are a number of pipes that are almost one hundred years old. The U.S. Congress banned lead pipes almost thirty years ago, but because most pipes are older than thirty years, there are still a significant amount of unsafe pipes in the water system. This means that there is a risk that changing the water source can lead these pipes to leach toxic contaminants such as lead. This is precisely what occurred in the Flint crisis. The water source changed, and the new water was not treated with the correct chemicals needed to prevent the lead pipes from disintegrating. Now that America has realized that its pipe system is older than its pipe laws, there are two large industries, plastic and iron, fighting to rebuild the water infrastructure. Currently, two-thirds of pipes are made from traditional materials such as steel and iron. Bluefield Research, a water advisory firm, predicts that 80% of the funds going into rebuilding the water infrastructure will go to the plastic industry. These funds are estimated to be $300 billion that local governments will spend in the next decade on the water and pipe infrastructures (Tabuchi, 2017).

     The plastic industry has been fighting very hard to be chosen as the new replacement material. It argues that plastic is light, cheaper than iron, easy to install, and corrosion-free. However, recent studies have shown that plastic can still leach contaminants and toxic pollutants. Dietrich, Whelton, and Gallagher (2010) found that polyethylene pipes are made of organic materials that can change when reacted with oxidants and disinfectants used in purifying water. This poses a threat to the purity of water in plastic pipes.  The iron industry has also spoken up to argue that iron is the better choice as it lasts much longer, citing its old pipes as evidence.  However, iron is a very corrosive metal, and so the water that passes through iron pipes must be treated with phosphoric acid to prevent corrosion. Unfortunately, the price of phosphoric acid is on the rise, and this is just pushing the government to look at alternative options (Olson, 2016). Burton, a city near Flint, has already converted its pipe system to plastic, saving $2.2 million (Tabuchi, 2017). Because both materials, iron and plastic, pose some threat to the inhabitants that drink the water they transport, there should be much more research to find an alternative option or at least a way to decrease the contamination of plastic piping. It is only fair for Americans to feel safe when they drink their water.

 

Works Cited:

Dietrich, A. M., Gallagher, D. L., & Whelton, A. J.(2010). Chemical Permeation/Desorption in New and Chlorine Aged Polyethylene Pipes. Retrieved November 12, 2017, from http://www.waterrf.org/ExecutiveSummaryLibrary/4138_ProjectSummary.pdf

Olson, T. (2016, January 28). The science behind the Flint water crisis: corrosion of pipes, erosion of trust. Retrieved November 12, 2017, from https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-the-flint-water-crisis-corrosion-of-pipes-erosion-of-trust-53776

Tabuchi, H. (2017, November 10). $300 Billion War Beneath the Street: Fighting to Replace America’s Water Pipes. Retrieved November 12, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/climate/water-pipes-plastic-lead.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront