The New Jersey Water Crisis Could Magnify Emergency Situations
According to a State task force, the New Jersey water infrastructure is in dire condition and requires immediate legislative intervention. Apparently urgent upgrades are needed because much of the infrastructure has aged beyond its useful life – some pipes actually date back to the Civil War – and has been underinvested and undermaintained for decades.
Not only does the decrepit New Jersey water system lose an estimated 20-30% of the potable water it transports each year due to leaks and water main breaks, but supply interruptions are increasingly likely. This is bad news when it comes to emergency preparedness.
Interrelationship Between the New Jersey Water System and Emergency Preparedness
The entire U.S. is at a crossroad when it comes to underground water pipes – it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about the New Jersey water system or some other state’s system, most states have problem areas. Here are a few examples of why this is problematic from an emergency preparedness perspective.
- Broken pipes can lead to service interruptions that could reduce the amount of water available to fight fires.
- Flooded roads caused by broken water mains could halt traffic and hinder evacuation efforts.
- A water supply interruption could lead to failures and/or malfunctions at everything from sewage treatment plants to certain types of power plant operations.
- A long-term service interruption could promote the spread of bacteria and illness, clogging up medical care facilities and hindering their ability to treat injuries.
- A service interruption could cause mass rioting from thirsty mobs, or cause people to die of dehydration.
The report recommends allocating $400 million to start tackling the problem. For more details on the report and its recommendations, click here. The bottom line is that this is not going to fix itself; in the event the New Jersey water system proverbially crashes and burns, the state’s emergency preparedness efforts would suffer as well. Let’s hope this report serves as a wakeup call.
