Water bubbles up in the streets, gathering in communities for weeks or months. If firefighters can't pump enough water from the hydrant, the house burns down. Utility crews are working to repair a broken pipe, and the shut-off valve through which the water flows is not working.
For generations, as the population has dwindled and poverty has increased, the water infrastructure beneath this southern Alabama city has been corroding, cracking, and decaying — out of sight, and seemingly without thinking. Until it becomes impossible to ignore.
Last year, residents learned of the startling fact that Pritchard buys more than half, and sometimes more than 60 percent, of its drinking water from nearby Mobile, and according to a state environmental report, "Pritchard's water pipes are in disrepair." It also places a heavy economic burden on one of the state's poorest cities, where more than 30 percent of people live in poverty, residents and experts say.
It's a heartbreaking situation," said community activist Carletta D**is, who recounted how residents were shocked by water bills that totaled hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. "I see people struggling with whether to pay for water, whether they can buy food, whether they can buy medicine. ”
Pritchard's situation is bad, but not unique.
Across the U.S., trillions of gallons of drinking water are lost each year, especially in communities that struggle with population loss and industrial decline, whose water systems are in disrepair, leaving poorer residents, vacant communities, and oversized water systems that are difficult to maintain.
By the time the water system nearly collapsed in 2022, Jackson, Mississippi, had lost about 65 percent of its water, including millions of gallons of water that had spewed out of broken pipes over the years, turning some areas into wetlands, said Ted Henifin, a federally appointed third-party administrator of the water system.
Experts say many communities – especially old industrial and rural areas in the eastern half of the country – are facing a similar economic and public health reckoning after decades of deferred maintenance and divestment.
At Highland Park on the outskirts of Detroit, the population has halved in the last 20 years, 83 percent less than it did at its peak in the '30s, and an estimated 70 percent of the water is drained from a 120-year-old pipeline. Several suburbs in Chicago may have lost more than 40 percent of their water. Sunil Sinha, a water researcher at Virginia Tech, said more than 80 percent of Georgia's system-treated drinking water is being lost.
The January cold snap caused water mains to break in dozens of communities whose aging infrastructure could no longer withstand freezing temperatures, including Memphis, Tennessee, and a small town in Arkansas, which had been starved of water for two weeks. But with time and damage from negligence, the system cracked and leaked throughout the year.
However, water loss has received far less public attention than issues such as lead pipes and overflow sewer systems, although it also has serious consequences: communities are buying or treating far more water than they would be, passing the cost on to consumers; Oversized systems have slower water flow and may stagnate, requiring flushing of pipes to prevent bacteria from accumulating, which wastes more water; Pressure loss from a pipe rupture can allow contamination to enter the system.
Eric Oswald, director of the drinking water department at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said, "If you lose 50 or 60 percent of your water, it's a waste and a cost to taxpayers, and that's enough to make you angry." Michigan, large and small, is losing a lot of water, which is largely related to industry and population decline, he said.
Needed investments are often delayed because raising water bills to fix systems is politically unpopular, but also because it is difficult to borrow, poorer communities often have to spend scarce resources on other needs, such as fire and police, experts say.
If you had to choose between building schools and laying power lines, build schools," said John C. Young, a former water superintendentYoung) said. He has helped manage recovery efforts following the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan. He was recently appointed to oversee the troubled PwC water and sewer division, which has been shaken by a scandal after being sued by a bank for defaulting on a $55 million loan.
The struggling city, Yang said, is "a bit like being between rocks and tough places."
Lack of data
Lisa McGuire walks through the ruins of the house where she and her husband, Tony McGuire, have lived for 28 years, pointing out where the living room, bathroom and kitchen once were.
In April last year, when she went to visit her husband in the hospital, a neighbor told her that there was a fire, and she rushed home from the hospital. She found Pritchard's firefighters standing there, an empty water pipe connected to a fire hydrant. McGuire and neighbors said they eventually got water from a fire hydrant on the street, but it was too late.
I lost everything," including the two dogs trapped in the house, now buried under a tree in the backyard, McGuire said wiping tears from her eyes. "I want to go home. ”
Residents say water problems in the community, known as Alabama Village, have been evident for years, especially when children wade through stagnant water on their way to school or when the water pressure is too low to bathe.
Last year, reports from an engineering firm and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said that nearly one-fifth of Pritchard's water loss occurred in Alabama Village, which once had more than 100 homes but now has only 36.
But the city still doesn't know what the rest of the water is draining.
In fact, many cities, towns, and states don't know exactly how much water is lost after treatment, or why. It is called "non-revenue water" because it is not charged, including water used for firefighting and filling municipal swimming pools, or when meters malfunction or residents and businesses are illegally connected. But in many older towns like Pritchard, much of the lost water may be leaking from the water supply, said Young, a court-appointed receiver.
Sinha, a researcher at Virginia Tech, said there is no comprehensive national count of water loss and no federal regulations requiring communities to control it, and he is working with the U.S. Geological Survey on a study to quantify the extent of water loss across the country.
About a dozen states require water systems to report damage, including Georgia, where some communities have reported losses of 85 percent or more, Sinha said. At first, he thought it was a mistake, but "Georgia (environment**) said'No, it's true. '”
Even smaller losses are unacceptable, Sinha said, noting that some communities that fetch and treat their own water do not consider the loss an emergency because it is cheaper than fixing the leak. The goal, he said, should be to limit the damage to 10 percent.
"If you lose % or 50% ......," he saidWhy not be shocking? "I mean, what kind of society is this? ”
In Illinois, communities that draw water from Lake Michigan are required to report on use and loss annually, but the state has no certified records after 2017, when several places reported significant amounts of non-income water — up to 52% in Maywood, west of Chicago.
Under the greatest lakes compact, the state receives an annual allocation of water, so water loss could affect whether other communities can access water in the future.
The state*** is trying to hire employees to enforce reporting requirements, and water loss continues to worsen in Chicago's aging and shrinking suburbs.
It's a big problem because infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating," said Loren Wobig, director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' Office of Water Resources. "It needs attention, and it needs attention now. ”
Funding challenges
However, struggling communities with the worst water systems are often at a significant disadvantage when it comes to solving problems.
They can't just rely on higher water bills, as the shrinking population and industry have left too few customers for distribution systems built for larger communities. Experts say those who remain are typically poorer minority residents who already spend most of their income on utility bills, meaning price increases could trigger more water theft and population losses.
Pritchard's population peak has been reduced by 60 percent, many buildings in the city centre are vacant, and water users in the area have billed 22 percent of their water bills last year**, but that's not enough to generate enough revenue to keep the water system running, let alone repairing it. He is conducting an affordability study and has set up a program to help residents who are struggling to pay their water and sewage bills.
The bigger challenge: the cost of maintenance and replacement is rising every year. But leaders in struggling communities say the situation is not in their favor.
Pritchard Mayor Jimmy Gardner said some loans and grants require recipients to match funds with funds, which would mean transferring funds from other needs.
Gardner said, "I always tell people ......Look at the money, see what neighborhoods they're going to, you'll find ...... in most statesUnderserved and underrepresented communities don't get the money. ”
When a city's bond rating is downgraded, they are also affected – sometimes even if they are not in arrears – making it harder for them to borrow or repay money for infrastructure repairs. Saqib Bhatti, co-executive director of the Action Center on Race and the Economy, said some people were persuaded to accept variable interest rates, which would be bad for them in the long run.
"It's really a vicious circle," Barty said. "For cities that are declining in populations and have high rates of poverty — predominantly Black and brown cities that have historically underinvested — it's actually very difficult to come up with the money to make those investments. ”
Some communities face allegations of mismanagement, including in Pritchard, where several former Water Board and Sewer Board employees were accused of misappropriation**. But the system is so precarious — with an annual operating deficit of $5 million and hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvement needs — that the alleged corruption has had little impact, Young said.
Despite billions of dollars in federal and state** infrastructure grants and low- and zero-interest loans, disadvantaged communities often lack the personnel, funding, or expertise to complete the audits and engineering reports requested by applicants. The Environmental Protection Agency has set up a technical assistance program to help.
For Prichard and many other poor communities, state and federal funds that don't need to be repaid will need to be supplemented with other measures, Young said, who plans to "fight for" Prichard as much as he can from EPA.
Jackson, for example, has received $600 million in federal funding. Michigan recently brokered a proposed deal that included $70 million to upgrade Highland Park's water infrastructure, including replacing water and service lines. The city, which bought Lake Huron's water, has been mired in a years-long dispute over unpaid $58 million in water bills.
Difficult choice
Angela Adams drove around potholes, past piles of family ruins and abandoned homes, and sometimes through flooded streets to return to her home of 30 years in the Alabama village of Pritchard.
She never considered leaving, even when neighbors died or moved away, roads turned from asphalt to dirt, and houses were demolished or burned. Her fondest memories are here, where she raised three children and loved watching squirrels and woodpeckers in her large fenced yard.
But now, there is talk of confiscating residents' property and paying them to move to help curb the city's water erosion and create opportunities for redevelopment. The city has banned the installation of additional water mains in the neighborhood, where water has been flowing into the city's sewer system from a faulty main, making it difficult to adequately dispose of waste.
I am at the age of planning to retire. I'm too old to buy another house," said Adams, 59. Last year, she said, a leaky city water pipe flooded her backyard. "All I want to do is sit on my front porch, have a cup of coffee, and take care of my business like I used to. ”
Among those who supported the relocation was the mayor, who said it would allow the city to redevelop the area, perhaps storing containers for the nearby Port of Mobile. The developer has expressed interest, but "if we're going to transfer someone, we need to make sure we put them in one place......."There they can continue to live a healthy life. ”
Roger Varner, a lawyer who filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of city residents, said the idea of relocation was particularly infuriating to residents, who said they were never told the extent of their water loss, or the health hazards of low water pressure, even with utility bills. They should not have lost their homes, some for generations, because of lack of investment and mismanagement, he said.
These are the people who are most wronged because they say, 'Wait, wait.'" I paid the water bill, I paid off the mortgage, I had the right to stay here, and you told me that because you didn't do your job, I had to ......Uproot? Varner said.
Still, Yang, who now oversees Pritchard's water and sewer system, said residents moving out of the Alabama village (built more than 80 years ago for local shipyard workers) must consider saving money and potentially generating income. He is also exploring whether a private company could operate the system in partnership with Prichard, whether the nearby Mobile Area Water and Sewage System could take over the system, or whether a treatment plant could be built so the city could pump and treat the water itself.
Joseph Schilling, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said shrinking water infrastructure is rare because of logistical challenges and the fact that the communities most likely to be targeted tend to be African-American areas with little investment.
In a place like Flint, where the entire city is traumatized by environmental injustice, it's hard to talk about decommissioned infrastructure," Schilling said. "When you're chronically affected by environmental injustice, segregation, and exclusive zoning, any new initiative has to work with the community. ”
But Oswald of the Michigan Department of Environment said struggling cities are also resisting discussions of shrinking their water systems because they hope industry and residents will return.
"You don't want to cast doubt on these grand plans, but, I mean, our systems have a capacity of 300 percent more water than they provide," he said. "It's hard to maintain, and in the end it's the poor taxpayers who have to subsidize it. ”
Restoring water infrastructure in troubled cities in the U.S. will require more money and won't be done anytime soon, Yang said.
"Because you've underinvested ...... in this system for decades," he saidIt will take decades to recover. ”