LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association Executive Vice President Rob Coppersmith issued the following statement today on “The Crisis Beneath Us,” a new report from the Great Lakes Water Authority detailing Michigan’s underground infrastructure needs:
“This report puts hard numbers on what the workforce who builds and repairs Michigan’s infrastructure see every day. Much of the pipe beneath our communities was laid in the 1920s or in the years after World War II, and most of it has reached or passed the end of its useful life. Yet we’re replacing less than 1% of the state’s water mains each year, and the state’s 2027 budget dedicates just 0.5% of its resources to water infrastructure. With as much as $85 billion needed over the next 20 years, that math simply doesn’t work.
“When this infrastructure fails, it doesn’t fail quietly. Aging pipes put the safety of our drinking water at risk. Water main breaks wash out the ground beneath our roads, opening sinkholes and tearing up pavement we’ve just committed billions of dollars to fix. Failing pumps and overwhelmed sewers mean flooded basements and streets, sewage backing up into homes and contaminated water flowing into the lakes and rivers that define our state. We saw what’s at stake in May, when a single failed transmission main in Oakland County cut off water to roughly 200,000 residents and led to a state of emergency.
“Every repair we put off today becomes a costlier emergency tomorrow, and only about a third of that cost lands on the utility. The rest falls on local families, businesses, schools and hospitals. Local ratepayers can’t close an $85 billion gap on their own. Michigan needs a dedicated, long-term state funding source for water infrastructure, and 84% of Michiganders agree. MITA stands ready to work with lawmakers to make that investment now, before the next failure makes the decision for us.”
Read the Report