South Carolina cities and towns, like others across the country, grapple with the constant challenge of maintaining and replacing an aging infrastructure.
Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers releases its "Report Card for America’s Infrastructure." The report card depicts the condition and performance of the nation’s infrastructure across 16 categories, such as roads, drinking water, wastewater, dams and solid waste.
The 2013 report card gave the nation an overall grade of D+, noting the country has a significant backlog of overdue maintenance across infrastructure systems and a pressing need for modernization. It indicated the country needed to invest $3.6 trillion in its infrastructure by 2020. ASCE also provides similar report cards for each state. At press time, ASCE had not published South Carolina’s report.
The October floods shined a bright light on the issue in South Carolina. Pipes burst, dams collapsed and roads crumbled during the peak of the storm. When the floodwaters receded, South Carolinians were left with more than $1 billion in damages.
Troubling still, experts predict additional damage caused by floodwaters still could arise.
Roads
The SC Department of Transportation estimates there were $137 million in damage to roads and bridges across the state. Of that, the department has budgeted $20 million to address those unseen or underdeveloped damages that may surface over the coming months, according to Chief Engineer for Operations Andy Leaphart.
SCDOT has increased the frequency of its bridge inspections and is closely monitoring roads, Leaphart said. It is watching areas of roads where shoulders were lost, and pavement was undermined or washed out. There is potential that sections of pipes that run under roads may have been damaged or partially separated but have not yet been seen, he said.
With its aging road infrastructure system, the state has been focused on maintaining what is already in place. South Carolina has the fourth-largest state maintained highway system in the nation, but there has been no change in its funding system—the gas tax is the primary source—since 1987, Leaphart said.
The Municipal Association weighed in on the issue with its 2016 Advocacy Initiatives. "Repairing and maintaining existing roads and infrastructure is about more than fixing potholes. It’s about encouraging and supporting statewide economic development with infrastructure that can accommodate new industry and support existing industry.
The Association supports legislation that provides stable, immediate and long-range funding for the repair and maintenance of existing roads and that ensures these funds are used efficiently and effectively."
Water/Wastewater
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "The nation’s drinking water utilities need $384.2 billion in infrastructure investments over the next 20 years for thousands of miles of pipe as well as thousands of treatment plants, storage tanks, and other key assets to ensure the public health, security, and economic well-being of our cities, towns, and communities."
It is estimated that South Carolina has $566 million in wastewater infrastructure needs for the next 20 years. In 2011 (the latest figures available), the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Bureau of Water estimated drinking water needs of $1.8 billion.
It is not uncommon for municipal water systems to have pipes and mains that are more than 100 years old. They are at, or rapidly reaching, the end of their life cycle and require significant investment. See chart on page 15 showing the life expectancy of distribution lines.
Inspections and maintenance are key.
The City of Aiken has some cast iron water pipes that are 105 years old, according to George Grinton, director of engineering and utilities. In the past, the city would address problem areas as it found them. Today, Aiken has new data management software to conduct infrastructure assessments.
"We’re trying to become more proactive and less reactive," Grinton said.
The new system allows the city to do a risk analysis of the most critical sections of pipe and determine where the city needs to spend money, Grinton explained. It will allow the city to budget and plan for its water/sewer system over the next century. Aiken is in the beginning process of using the software and is working to make sure all of its GIS data is current and that it can be accessed remotely in the field.
"Every newspaper you read has stories on our nation’s aging infrastructure," Grinton said. "Aiken is trying to deal with it."
Soon after Ted Luckadoo became town manager in Batesburg-Leesville, he realized the town’s utility systems needed significant attention, but the town lacked the internal expertise needed to address the issues. In March 2014, Luckadoo hired the town government’s first certified professional engineer to serve as director of utilities.
Since then, staff has studied the town’s water and sewer treatment plants to highlight deficiencies, prioritized critical needs and estimated costs. Staff also evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of current operations and worked to make sure employees were properly trained to understand system improvements and repairs.
staff inspect the town’s new liquid lime chemical feed system.
"It’s extremely important to keep up with preventive maintenance and make repairs as quickly as possible," Luckadoo said. "These are very complex systems, meaning, one minor deficiency can lead to many other issues if not resolved quickly."
Over the past two years, the Town of Batesburg-Leesville has spent $14 million improving ts water utility infrastructure. Town officials also spent an additional $1.3 million on wastewater treatment improvement projects, according to Luckadoo.
"Quality water is an essential need in life and sewer systems are crucial to public health," Luckadoo said. "It is imperative that we evaluate, inspect and repair our infrastructure on a regular basis to ensure the community’s sustainability."
The National Environmental Services Center offers local government leaders several strategies to consider for maintaining and sustaining critical water and wastewater services.
Learn about the condition of your water infrastructure. An important first step is discussing the system’s current condition with water and sewer plant operators/managers.
Implement an asset management plan. According to the EPA, asset management is a "planning process that ensures that you get the most value from each of your assets and have the financial resources to rehabilitate and replace them when necessary." Assets to consider managing typically include any infrastructure component that has a useful life of more than one year. Asset management involves gathering information to determine what you have, where it is, what condition it’s in, and how long you can expect it to last.
Educate the public. When it is time to repair, rehabilitate or replace water infrastructure, it is important for the public to understand and support the project because taxpayers and ratepayers may be affected. Public education is a proactive way to inform the public about the value of the infrastructure, its condition and needs, and what is required to keep water services up and running.