Price Tag On Repairing South Dakota Wastewater: $160M
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
Municipal wastewater systems in South Dakota need upgrades, but costs are a major barrier to completing the task.
“Fixing the aging, often overworked systems that treat municipal wastewater in South Dakota would cost nearly $160M, a cost borne mostly by state residents whose drinking water could be at stake,” The Argus Leader reported.
South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) officials say the biggest challenge for wastewater treatment in South Dakota is replacing aging infrastructure and funding new technologies, the report stated.
In South Dakota, water quality in rivers could depend on making upgrades.
“System upgrades are critical to improving the water quality in state rivers because pollution from aging systems could taint the drinking water supplies of some state residents,” the report stated.
“In all, 98 South Dakota municipalities get drinking water from surface water sources, almost exclusively rivers. Seven municipalities have dedicated surface water systems and 91 buy their water from rural systems that use surface water as the source. The Missouri River is the source for many of those drinking water systems,” it continued, citing Brian Walsh, spokesman for the state DENR.
It remains unclear where the funding will come from.
“The great need comes as federal funding for system upgrades and other state regulatory functions has been steady or falling in South Dakota and other states in recent years,” The Argus Leader reported.
On a 2017 report card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), South Dakota received a grade of D+ for wastewater.
Within its region and across the country, South Dakota is hardly alone in facing high cost burdens related to wastewater. Neighbors Nebraska and Iowa each need about $2.5 billion in wastewater infrastructure funding over the next 20 years, according to ASCE.
The U.S., meanwhile, received a D+ for wastewater infrastructure overall. ASCE predicted that 56 million new users will be connected to centralized treatment systems in the next 20 years, requiring $271B.