4 ms·

Storm drains are a much smaller problem than a regional water shortage catastrophe. If that is the biggest issue a municipal grapples with they are in a good po

• asdff 5y ago
  There isn't much of a regional water shortage catastrophe occuring in the west so much as a general mismanagement of water resources. We make water cheap and in plenty supply for farmers, so they pick water intensive lucrative crops for export like alfalfa, cotton for mattresses fabricated in mexico, or even rice. Residential use makes up such a small percentage of water usage compared to agriculture which isn't managed well. Seeing the great lakes as an infinite body of water is also a logical fallacy, that resource also needs not to be mismanaged in order for it to be relied upon 100 years from now. The infrastructure issue is a huge problem. Municipalities are going bankrupt. They can't afford to replace these systems that were laid out decades ago. Who will pay for it when there isn't money available even to pay existing pensions on the municipality and the state level, and federal policy changes with the wind every 4 years? In the mean time while that is being debated historic storms are finding the weakest links to stress and breaking them, and compromises are being made to sustain the bare essential of infrastructure. And that's just the public works. Homes are rotting too, and they aren't building new ones fast enough. A housing tract that was nice and new in 1995 probably needs work on the roof today, a repair bill that might be worth 10-20% the total value of the home. You won't get that nice coastal salary to make these sorts of bills worry free, either. This is the midwest where engineers are paid like 80k and that's seen as pretty good pay.