Aging Infrastructure: A State Of Emergency (20m Lecture)

A common interpretation by Clark County, Nevada’s pre-1997 water systems of the Nevada Administrative Codes 445A “grandfathering” clause assumes that it is a safety blanket against meeting current standards. By thinking this way, most water systems are ignoring proactive management by voluntarily following current standards. This has often led to grandfathered water systems nearing out-of-compliance status with regulations, thus nulling their grandfather status, and often causing a prolonged emergency situation. Neglected or aging infrastructure and non-compliance with current regulations may be one of the most avoidable sources of risk to public health and emergency response by water systems. This was witnessed by the Southern Nevada Health District within two water systems during the Spring Mountains’ 2013 Carpenter 1 Fire. Therefore, an initiative by the SNHD has been started to assess all public water systems that it oversees through the use of online surveying of operators and administrative contacts of those systems. The surveying will be the first step to triage water systems by identifying their most infrequently maintained components of a water system, and extreme economic hardship which may impede compliance. It is projected that almost all privately owned water systems will benefit from this initiative. Overall, identification of components at risk for failure will allow a more organized approach of assessing what operation and maintenance plans require revisions and funding by the State Revolving Fund, and which emergency plans are outdated to avoid unnecessary risk of public health.