(NEW YORK) MintPress – More than a month after Hurricane Sandy, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw and partly raw sewage are spilling into waterways in New York and New Jersey because of crippled treatment plants, exposing major flaws in waste water infrastructure and creating an environmental and health disaster that is likely to be one of the most lasting and costly effects of the storm.
In New York alone, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has estimated that about $1.1 billion will be needed to repair treatment plants.
And that is just a start. Experts say there must be significant changes made to prevent similar or even worse destruction in future storms.
Motors and electrical equipment have to be raised and circuit systems have to be waterproofed. Dams and levees may also have to be built at some treatment plants to protect against rising water levels.
“You’re looking at significant expenditures of money to make the plants more secure,” said John Cameron, chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council. “There is no Band-Aid for this,” he added. “This is the new normal.”
Almost all facilities in the region are close to sea level and vulnerable to storm surges, he said. Many were built decades ago to serve far fewer people.
But the problem is not limited to the Eastern seaboard. There are thousands of faltering sewage plants in other states.
Nor is it restricted to waste water infrastructure. There are tens of thousands of roads, bridges, mass transport systems, dams and electrical grids in need of repair and maintenance across the country.
“The need for investment in public works, never more urgent, has become a casualty of Washington’s ideological wars,” wrote the New York Times in an editorial.
Fighting over the ‘fiscal cliff’
Just look at what is taking place at the moment in Washington with the White House and Congress at an impasse in the so-called fiscal cliff talks.
When President Obama asked recently for $50 billion for transportation improvements, Republicans immediately rejected the request. “There will be no stimulus in any deal,” said Rep. Bill Shuster, (R-Pa.), the incoming chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Indeed, the Republican position is that the federal budget deficit has to be slashed through a combination of cuts in spending and some increases in tax revenue, limited to closing loopholes and limiting deductions, not raising tax rates.
Similarly, Republicans haven’t agreed to the $82 billion request for emergency funds by the states that were hit the hardest by Sandy.
Gov. Cuomo said New York needs $33 billion to repair the New York City subway system, hospitals, homes and other facilities damaged by the storm, as well as an additional $9 billion to upgrade infrastructure to protect against future storms, for a total of $42 billion.
Gov. Chris Christie estimated that New Jersey needs $29.5 billion to repair schools, roads, bridges, businesses, homes and other facilities, and $7.4 billion to prevent damage from future storms, a total of $36.9 billion.
And Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy wanted $3.2 billion, the bulk of it to bury power lines, upgrade transmission systems, build sewage-treatment plants and pay for other projects to guard against future storms.
Conservative lawmakers indicated they are unwilling to approve additional disaster spending without cuts that would offset the costs and avoid adding to the deficit.
Falling through the cracks
As hard as it will be to achieve, the $50 billion proposal for highways, rail, mass transit and aviation is only a fraction of what is really needed. Most estimates put the cost of basic repairs at more than $2 trillion, and that does not even include long-range upgrades to the electrical grid, storm protection and mass transit.
Around the country, the use of transit has grown significantly since the 1990s, but federal investments have fallen short.
The Transportation Department says that if $18 billion were spent every year, 40 percent more than what is being spent now, transit systems might be in good repair by 2028. And that does not include spending to improve service or keep up with growth.
According to the Times, the NextGen satellite program desperately needed to replace the country’s overburdened air traffic control system will cost at least $30 billion, but much of that money is likely to be cut by the automatic sequester of spending put in place by Republicans last year.
“This investment will ultimately save the airline industry vast amounts now lost to delays and excess fuel consumption, but like so many other important projects, it is being eroded in the blind ideological rush to cut everything,” it said.
“As bridges fall, subway riders are stranded and flight delays pile up, the cost of this shortsightedness will continue to mount.”
“If you own a house and the roof starts leaking, you have to fix the roof or the house will be ruined. Fix the roof or lose much more money when the house floods,” commented Bruce from Kansas City.
“Our roof is leaking, badly. Spend the money. These are investments that pay back. They are not money thrown down a rathole. We just ‘invested’ trillions on Wall Street and look what that bought us. Ditto for the never ending wars.”
Third world country?
“Far too many Americans never travel abroad, so they do not know how far behind our nation is when it comes to modern power grids, mass transit (e.g. high speed trains and state of the art airports), excellent roads and bridges, etc.,” wrote Jay from Ohio.
“It is a tragedy with long term consequences for our economy and future if our leaders continue to ignore the desperate need to repair and modernize our infrastructure.”
Take Hong Kong, one of the most populated places on earth, where people survive powerful storms like Sandy almost every year and quickly return to normal. It hasn’t had a major power outage in decades.
An elaborate warning system alerts the public to where there are threats. The island escapes flooding with a high-tech drain system. There is a vast underground reservoir with a capacity of 40 olympic swimming pools. Barriers protect power stations from storm surge and substations are built on raised ground. Even the airport roof is designed to flex and lift with the wind.
In fact, nearly every airport in Asia has had a major overhaul within the last 20 years.
It’s not surprising then that the National Intelligence Council’s latest “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds” report released on Monday predicts that Asia will have surpassed North America in terms of global power, based upon GDP population size, military spending and technological investment.
That’s the real cliff we are headed for.