Washington, D.C. —(ENEWSPF)–October 31, 2014. The second anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which took the lives of 117 people and caused billions of dollars in property damage and lost economic output, has renewed the focus on the nation’s aging infrastructure and the effects that more and more powerful storms caused by climate change will have on already weakened roads, bridges, and buildings. However, one prominent cost of the storm—the failure of aging wastewater infrastructure in New York and New Jersey—has received significantly less attention. This vital infrastructure, whose many systems are already old and overtaxed, is at a significant risk from the growing effects of climate change. Already, neglected wastewater systems spill an estimated 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage and wastewater into U.S. waterways each year, and rising sea levels and more frequent and powerful storms are likely to exacerbate this, resulting in system failures that pose major risks to public health and economic vitality.
