EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted the second survey of the

nation’s infrastructure needs. The survey covers the nation’s approximately 55,000 community water systems and 21,400 not-for-profit noncommunity water systems. The total

national need for drinking water investments is large—$150.9 billion for the next 20 years.

Of this total, $102.5 billion is needed now to ensure the continued provision of safe drinking water. Large and medium-sized systems account for most of the total need, although

small systems have the greatest needs on a per-household basis. American Indian and

Alaska Native Village systems represent $2.2 billion of the total national need. The results

of this survey support the findings of the first survey, conducted in 1995, by documenting

the continued need to install, upgrade, and replace the infrastructure on which the public

relies for safe drinking water.

Public water systems must invest in

infrastructure improvements to

ensure that they can continue to

deliver safe drinking water to consumers.

These improvements vary greatly in

complexity and cost: from replacing a lowcapacity well pump that will serve a small

community to constructing a 500 million

gallon-per-day water treatment plant that

will serve a large metropolitan area.

Despite the importance of these projects

for protecting public health, water systems

often encounter difficulties in obtaining

affordable financing for such improvements. Recognizing this problem, Congress established the Drinking Water

State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) in the

1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Amendments. The DWSRF provides

low-interest loans and other forms of

assistance to public water systems so

they can supply safe drinking water. Since

1997, Congress has appropriated $3.6

billion to the DWSRF.

The Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs

Survey is an important tool of the DWSRF

program. The purpose of the survey is to

estimate the documented 20-year capital

investment needs of public water systems

eligible to receive DWSRF funding—

community water systems and

not-for-profit noncommunity water

systems.1

 The survey includes

infrastructure needs that are

required to protect public health,

such as projects to preserve the

physical integrity of the water

system, convey treated water to

homes, or ensure continued

compliance with specific SDWA

regulations.

As required by the SDWA, EPA

uses the results of the most recent

survey to allocate DWSRF funds

to the States. Each State develops

a priority system for funding

projects based on public health criteria

specified in the SDWA. Annual appropriations to the DWSRF are allocated to each

State based on its share of the total

national need—with each State receiving

a minimum allotment of 1 percent of

available funds. In addition, EPA uses the

survey as a tool for allocating the Tribal

Set-Aside (up to 1.5 percent of the

DWSRF annual appropriation) to American Indian and Alaska Native Village

water systems.

Sections 1452(h) and

1452(i)(4) of the Safe Drinking Water Act direct the EPA

to conduct the Drinking

Water Infrastructure Needs

Survey every four years. The

results are used to allocate

Drinking Water State Revolving Fund monies to the

States and Tribes. The 1999

Needs Survey is due to

Congress by February 6,

2001.

1

 Community water systems serve at least 25 people or 15 connections year-round.

Noncommunity water systems serve at least 25 people for more than 60 days, but less

than year-round.
Page 12 1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey

Total National Need

Total Need by System Size and Type.

The survey found that the total infrastructure need nationwide is $150.9 billion.

This estimate represents the needs of the

approximately 55,000 community and

21,400 not-for-profit noncommunity water

systems that are eligible to receive

DWSRF assistance. The total national

need includes all eligible water systems.

These systems are found in all 50 States,

Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Pacific

Islands, and the District of Columbia.

American Indian and Alaska Native

Village water systems also are included in

the total need.

The survey includes only infrastructure

needs that are required to protect the

public health. It is important to emphasize,

however, that most of the needs represent projects that systems would address

as preemptive measures to ensure the

continued provision of safe drinking water,

rather than as remedial actions to correct

an existing violation of a drinking water

standard. In addition, the majority of the

total need derives from the inherent costs

of being a water system which involves

the nearly continual need to install,

upgrade, and replace the basic infrastructure that is required to deliver safe drinking water to consumers.

As shown in Exhibit ES-1, the nation’s

886 largest community water systems

(each serving more than 50,000 people)

account for the greatest share, 41 percent, of the total national need. Medium

and small community water systems also

have substantial needs of $43.3 billion

and $31.2 billion, respectively. The Virgin

Islands and the Pacific Island territories

represent $387.5 million of the total need.

The survey estimates that not-for-profit

noncommunity water systems have $3.1

billion in needs. American Indian water

systems need $1.2 billion in infrastructure

improvements, while Alaska Native

Village systems require $1.1 billion.2

Total Need by Current and

Future Needs. About 68 percent

of the total need, $102.5 billion, is

needed now to continue to protect

the public health and maintain

existing distribution and treatment

systems. Appendix B-2 presents a

further breakdown of the current

need. Current needs are projects

that a system would begin immediately.

In most cases a current need

would involve installing, upgrading,

or replacing infrastructure to

enable a water system to continue

to deliver safe drinking water. A

system with a current need,

therefore, usually is not in violation

of any health-based drinking water

System Size and Type Need

Large Community Water Systems

(serving over 50,000 people) $61.8

Medium Community Water Systems

(serving 3,301 to 50,000 people) $43.3

Small Community Water Systems

(serving 3,300 and fewer people) $31.2

Not-for-Profit Noncommunity Water Systems $3.1

American Indian and Alaska Native Village

Water Systems $2.2

Subtotal National Need $141.6

Costs Associated with Proposed and

Recently Promulgated Regulations

(Taken From EPA Economic Analyses)

$9.3

Total National Need $150.9

Exhibit ES-1: Total 20-Year Need

(in billions of January 1999 dollars)

2 These estimates slightly exceed the total

$2.2 billion American Indian and Alaska Native

Village system need due to rounding.
1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey Page 13

standard. For example, a surface water

treatment plant may currently produce

safe drinking water, but the plant’s filters

may require replacement due to their age

and declining effectiveness, if the plant is

to continue to provide safe water.

Future needs are projects that water

systems expect to address in the next 20

years as part of routine rehabilitation of

infrastructure or due to predictable events

such as reaching the end of a facility’s

service-life. Approximately 32 percent of

the total need, $48.4 billion is reported as

future needs.

Total Need by Category. Every project in

the survey belongs to one of five categories of need: source, transmission and

distribution, treatment, storage, and

“other.” Each category represents projects

that are of critical importance to providing

safe drinking water. Exhibit ES-2

illustrates the total 20-year need

by category.

• With $83.2 billion needed

over the next 20 years,

transmission and distribution projects constitute the

largest category of need.

Although the treatment

plant is usually the most

visible component of a

water system, most of a

system’s infrastructure is

buried underground in the

form of transmission and

distribution mains. For this

reason, the transmission

and distribution category

comprises the largest

proportion of the total

need. The transmission

and distribution category

includes the installation

and rehabilitation of raw

Transmission and

Distribution

$83.2 billion

Storage

$18.4 billion

Treatment

$38.0 billion

Source

$9.6 billion

Other

$1.9 billion

Exhibit ES-2: Total 20-Year Need by Category

(in January 1999 dollars)

A ruptured water main in New York City closed a section of a major thoroughfare and limited

service to two hospitals. The majority of the nation’s distribution lines were installed in the

mid-1900s. Towns and cities are finding it increasingly necessary to replace old and

deteriorated pipe.

AP/Wide World Photos

Note: Numbers may not total due to rounding.
Page 14 1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey

and finished water transmission

pipes, distribution water mains,

replacement of lead service lines,

flushing hydrants, valves, and

backflow prevention devices. Failure

of transmission and distribution lines

can interrupt the delivery of water.

Broken transmission lines also can

disrupt the treatment process, and

leaking distribution mains can lead

to a loss of pressure causing backsiphonage of contaminated water.

• Treatment projects represent the

second largest category of need,

$38.0 billion over the next 20 years.

This category consists of projects

needed to reduce contaminants

through, for example, filtration,

chlorination, corrosion control, and

aeration. More than half of the total

treatment need, $22.7 billion, is

needed to address contaminants

that pose acute health risks. The

installation, upgrade, or rehabilitation of treatment infrastructure also

is required to remove contaminants

that can cause chronic health

effects or taste, odor, and other

aesthetic problems.

• The total 20-year need for storage

projects is $18.4 billion. This category includes projects to construct

new or rehabilitate existing finished

water storage tanks. A water system

with inadequate storage capacity

cannot always provide water at

pressures sufficient to prevent backsiphonage of microbial contaminants. In addition, constructing new

tanks is necessary if the system

cannot meet peak demands. Many

projects in this category involve

rehabilitating existing tanks to

prevent structural failures that can

cause microbiological contamination.

• The source category includes

projects that are necessary to obtain

safe supplies of surface or ground

water. The infrastructure needs in

this category include the installation

and rehabilitation of drilled wells.

The total 20-year need for source

water projects is $9.6 billion.

• Other needs account for an estimated $1.9 billion. This category

captures needs that cannot be

assigned to one of the prior categories. Examples include emergency

power generators, computer and

automation equipment, and improvements for flood or earthquake

protection.

Conservative Estimate of Need.

Although the total estimate of need is

large, it is important to emphasize that

the methods used by the survey

produce a conservative estimate of

need. The second chapter, Findings,

discusses this issue in greater detail.

Water systems require storage facilities to serve the public during periods of peak

use, to supply water in the event of an emergency, and to prevent contamination by

maintaining water pressure. Two 30 million gallon tanks under construction in Los

Angeles, California, and a 100 gallon tank (insert) underscore the difference in scale

between large and small systems.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and U.S. EPA
1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey Page 15

Total 20-Year

Need

$150.9 billion

20-Year

Regulatory Need

$31.2 billion

The Regulatory Need

The SDWA aims to ensure that public

water systems meet national standards to

protect consumers from the harmful

effects of contaminated drinking water.

Although all of the infrastructure projects

included in the survey promote the

SDWA’s public health objectives, some

are directly attributable to SDWA regulations. This report refers to these needs

collectively as the “regulatory need.” The

total regulatory need is divided into two

broad categories: existing SDWA regulations and recently promulgated and

proposed regulations.

As shown in Exhibit ES-3, the total regulatory need accounts for 21 percent, or

$31.2 billion, of the total national need.

This statistic reveals that most of the total

need results from the costs of installing,

upgrading, and replacing the basic infrastructure that is required to

deliver drinking water to

consumers–-costs that are

borne by water systems

independent of the SDWA.

For a need to be included

in the survey, however, it

must be required to protect

public health. Therefore, if

a system fails to address a

need, then a health-based

violation of a standard

eventually may occur.

Existing SDWA Regulations. The estimated need

directly associated with

existing SDWA regulations

is $21.9 billion. Exhibit ES4 displays the regulatory

need by type of regulation

and identifies how much of

the need is a current need

and how much is a future

need.

Exhibit ES-3: 20-Year Total Need and Regulatory Need

(in January 1999 dollars)

Exhibit ES-4: 20-Year Regulatory Need

(in millions of January 1999 dollars)

Regulations Current

Need

Future

Need Total Need

Existing SDWA Regulations

Surface Water Treatment Rule 1 $14,492.1 $4,873.3 $19,365.4

Total Coliform Rule 1 $358.1 $112.8 $470.9

Nitrate/Nitrite Standard 1 $197.1 $31.9 $229.0

Lead and Copper Rule $1,039.6 $186.5 $1,226.2

Total Trihalomethanes Standard $39.1 $60.6 $99.7

Other Regulations 2 $430.8 $85.4 $516.2

Subtotal National Need $16,556.9 $5,350.4 $21,907.4

Costs Associated with Proposed and

Recently Promulgated Regulations

(Taken From EPA Economic Analyses) 3

$9,324.3 $9,324.3

Total National Need $16,556.9 $14,674.8 $31,231.7

1

 Regulations for contaminants that cause acute health effects.

2

 Includes regulated VOCs, SOCs, IOCs, and Radionuclides.

3

 Includes regulations for contaminants that cause acute and/or chronic health effects. In the Economic Analyses,

 the compliance costs with some regulations are given as a range. In calculating the $9.3 billion need, the survey

 used EPA’s lead option, unless one was not available in which case the survey used the more conservative

 estimate.

Note: Numbers may not total due to rounding.
Page 16 1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey

$790 $1,250

$3,000

$6,500

$51,500

Large

Systems

Medium

Systems

Small

Systems

American

Indian

Systems

Alaska Native

Village

Systems

for compliance with the Nitrate/Nitrite

Standard, Lead and Copper Rule, Total

Trihalomethanes Standard, and other

regulations that set maximum allowable

limits for organic and inorganic contaminants. Examples of projects in this category are aerating water to remove

volatile organic compounds and applying

corrosion inhibitors to reduce the leaching

of lead from pipes.

Proposed or Recently Promulgated

Regulations. The total need for proposed

and recently promulgated regulations is

$9.3 billion. Of this total, $2.6 billion is for

the regulation of acute contaminants

under the Interim Enhanced Surface

Water Treatment Rule (IESWTR), Long

Term I Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT1), Ground Water Rule, and

Filter Backwash Recycling Rule. The

remaining $6.7 billion is for chronic

contaminants regulated under the Stage 1

Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts

Rule (DBPR), Arsenic Rule,

Radon Rule, and Radionuclides

Rule. Exhibit ES-5: Average 20-Year Per-Household Need

(in January 1999 dollars)

Microbial Contaminants. Projects

to address microbiological contamination account for 91 percent, or

$19.8 billion, of the total existing

regulatory need. Under the SDWA,

the Surface Water Treatment Rule

(SWTR) and the Total Coliform Rule

(TCR) are designed to reduce the

amount of microbial contaminants in

drinking water. Microbial contaminants, such as Giardia and E. coli,

can cause acute gastrointestinal

illness and, in extreme cases, death.

The installation of a treatment plant to

filter a surface water source and the

installation of a disinfection system are

examples of needs associated with this

category.

Chemical Contaminants. Infrastructure

needs to protect the public health from

chemical contaminants comprise $2.1

billion of the total existing regulatory need.

This category includes projects necessary

Does not include the costs associated with proposed or recently promulgated SDWA regulations.

The SDWA requires that

States use 15 percent of

their DWSRF allotment

for providing financial

assistance to small water

systems. In reality, States

have committed an

average of 41 percent of

their allotments to small

systems.
1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey Page 17

Economic Challenges

Faced by Small Water

Systems

Approximately 45,000 of the nation’s

55,000 community water systems serve

fewer than 3,300 people. Small water

systems face many unique challenges in

providing safe drinking water to consumers. The substantial capital investments

required to rehabilitate, upgrade, or install

infrastructure represent one such challenge. Although the total small system

need is modest compared to the needs of

larger systems, the costs borne on a perhousehold basis by small systems are

significantly higher than those of larger

systems. Exhibit ES-5 compares the

average 20-year need per-household for

water systems.

Needs of American Indian

and Alaska Native Village

Water Systems

Total American Indian and Alaska

Native Village Water System Needs.

The total need for American Indian and

Alaska Native Village systems is $2.2

billion over 20 years. Exhibit ES-6

presents the total need by category for

these systems. The significance of this

need in terms of public health is underscored by considering the per-household

costs, which average $6,500 for American Indians and $51,500 for Alaska

Natives. The difficulty in transporting

materials to remote areas, the lack of

economies of scale for small system

projects, and the limited annual construction period in some regions contribute to the high per-household costs for

these systems.

Transmission and

Distribution

$1.2 billion

Storage

$0.4 billion

Treatment

$0.4 billion

Source

$0.1 billion

Other

$0.01 billion

Exhibit ES-6: Total 20-Year for American Indian and

Alaska Native Village Water System Need by Category

(in January 1999 dollars)

Does not include the costs associated with proposed or recently promulgated SDWA

regulations.

The construction of a treated water storage tank nears completion in Nuiqsut, one of

the most northerly communities in Alaska. In many Alaska Native communities,

water tanks and treatment plants must be elevated on pilings to prevent the heated

facilities from subsiding into the permafrost. Indian Health Service

Note: Numbers may not total due to rounding.
Page 18 1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey

Households Not Served by

Public Water Systems

Data from the 1990 census indicate that

approximately 16 million households are

not served by public water systems. This

survey was restricted to public water

systems eligible for DWSRF assistance. It

therefore, was not designed to estimate

the needs for households that use private

wells, haul water from non-public systems, or lack running water. However, the

survey addressed these needs in a limited

way by including projects to extend

service from existing public water systems

to homes that do not have access to safe

drinking water. Approximately $6.0 billion

is needed for such projects. This figure

underestimates the true scale of the need,

given that most systems in the survey

focused their efforts on identifying projects

for current consumers.

Methods

The approach for the survey was developed by EPA in consultation with a

workgroup consisting of representatives of

the States, American Indians and Alaska

Native Villages, and the Indian Health

Service. The workgroup refined the

methods used in 1995 based on lessons

learned from the 1995 survey and options

made available from technological advancements in the Internet.

Methods Used to Assess State

Needs

The survey used questionnaires to collect

infrastructure needs from medium and

large water systems. EPA mailed questionnaires to all 1,111 of the nation’s

largest water systems serving over

40,000 people and to a random sample of

Water systems use a variety of treatment technologies to remove

harmful contaminants from drinking water. For example, aeration

units (pictured) are used to remove volatile organic compounds and

certain secondary contaminants, such as hydrogen sulfide.

U.S. EPA

American Indian Needs. The total 20-

year need for American Indian systems is

$1.2 billion. Of this total, approximately

$1.0 billion is currently needed to ensure

the continued provision of safe drinking

water. Transmission and distribution

projects account for 65 percent of the total

need, followed by projects in the treatment, storage, and source categories of

need.

Alaska Native Village Needs. The total

20-year need for Alaska Native Village

systems is $1.1 billion. Of this total,

approximately $1.0 billion is needed now

to ensure the continued provision of safe

drinking water. The largest categories of

need in descending order are transmission and distribution, storage, and treatment.
1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey Page 19

2,556 of the 7,759 medium systems

serving over 3,300 people. Approximately

96 percent of these systems returned the

questionnaire: with 100 percent of the

largest water systems responding.

Small systems serving fewer than 3,300

people often lack the specialized staff and

planning documents needed to respond

adequately to the questionnaire. Therefore, EPA conducted site visits to 599

randomly selected small community water

systems and 100 not-for-profit noncommunity systems to identify and document

their infrastructure needs.

Methods Used to Assess American Indian and Alaska Native

Village Water System Needs

Each of the 19 American Indian systems

serving more than 3,300 people completed a questionnaire. To assess the

needs of small systems serving fewer

than 3,300 people, EPA conducted site

visits to a random sample of 78 American

Indian water systems.

In Alaska, the availability of key personnel

and data resources (such as aerial

photographs) allowed for a census of the

174 Alaska Native Village water systems.

The survey included 2 medium-sized

systems and all 172 small systems.

Current and future needs for Alaska

Native Village systems were documented

by EPA in consultation with district engineers, Village Safe Water, and Alaska

Native Village representatives.

Total Need Compared to

the 1995 Drinking Water

Infrastructure Needs

Survey

The 1995 Needs Survey estimated a total

national need of $152.6 billion3–as compared to the $150.9 billion estimate of this

survey. The Findings section discusses

the $1.7 billion difference between the

surveys’ estimates in greater detail.

It is important to note that the fundamental methods used to collect and evaluate

needs in 1999 remained largely unchanged from the 1995 survey. Most

importantly, the 1999 survey retained the

stringent documentation and eligibility

requirements of the 1995 survey.

Conclusions

The 1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure

Needs Survey, the second such national

survey by EPA, estimates that the

nation’s public water systems need to

invest $150.9 billion over the next 20

years to ensure the continued provision of

safe drinking water to consumers. This

finding lends support to the results from

the previous survey which also identified a

substantial need for infrastructure investments. The need to replace, upgrade, and

install infrastructure will continue to

increase as these systems age. The large

magnitude of the need reflects the challenges confronting water systems as they

deal with an infrastructure network that

has aged considerably since the systems

were constructed, in many cases, 50 to

100 years ago.

3

 The 1995 Needs Survey reported the total need as

$138.4 billion. Adjusted to 1999 dollars this amount is

$152.6 billion.
This 31-year-old storage tank ruptured in Westminster, California, sending a 6-foot wave of water through the city that damaged

or destroyed about 50 buildings and over a dozen vehicles. Storage tanks should be replaced or periodically rehabilitated to

preserve their structural integrity.

AP/Wide World Photos