At Aqua, we take our responsibility to provide quality, reliable drinking water and safe wastewater solutions to our customers seriously — and we’ve been doing it for more than 135 years. Since the first pipe was laid in 1886, we’ve been dedicated to improving infrastructure and supply, whether that meant building reservoirs and water or wastewater plants to service a growing community, or replacing pipe to strengthen aging systems.

The condition of our nation’s infrastructure tends to be a national talking point from time to time. But at Aqua, infrastructure has always been a top priority. Aqua’s infrastructure is a complex network designed to deliver quality water to homes and businesses. Every year, we invest millions of dollars to improve our plants, tanks, distribution systems and more, to ensure we're able to continue doing just that.

What is water infrastructure?

Drinking water infrastructure includes the physical components that create a water utility’s supply, treatment, storage, transmission and distribution systems. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, our nation's drinking water infrastructure system is made up of 2.2 million miles of underground pipes. There are many cities and towns across the country that are currently relying on pipe to supply water to their residents that has reached, or is approaching, the end of its useful life. That's where Aqua comes in.

When should water or wastewater infrastructure be replaced?

The end of the useful life of a pipe or piece of infrastructure is the point at which it can no longer provide reliable service efficiently. For example, frequent water main breaks or a large number of leaks indicate infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life. Age alone does not define the useful life of a pipe or other infrastructure component. That is, the oldest component does not necessarily require the most immediate attention. Instead, water utilities must carefully assess their systems to target pipes for replacement or rehabilitation that would provide the most benefit in terms of improved reliability, reduced leakage, and so forth. At Aqua, we constantly monitor the integrity of our water and wastewater systems — and all of their component parts — to ensure our infrastructure remains safe and reliable.