The United States Invests in Water Infrastructure Against Climate Change

In the United States, as in other English-speaking countries, the expression “It’s raining cats and dogs” is used to indicate a torrential, almost tropical rain. The phenomenon, typical of southern regions or those bordering the Gulf of Mexico, such as Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, is spreading further north, targeting large cities such as New York, Washington, Boston, and Chicago.

Major American metropolitan areas are thus forced to revise their infrastructure plans, especially in the water sector.

This means managing the collection and drainage of rainwater, sewage management, drinking water distribution systems, water storage, and the maintenance of a dense and often outdated network. Behind daily actions like brushing your teeth or making coffee lies a sophisticated technological machine that must always function, even under critical conditions.

In New York, a city of 9 million inhabitants, water management is a priority. Since 1997, the metropolis has been monitoring water quality daily through 965 sampling stations located along sidewalks and equipped with internal taps. Every day, 50 samples are analyzed to detect the presence of microorganisms, toxic chemicals, and potentially dangerous contaminants.

To further enhance the drinking water distribution, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced a $250 million package to support three major facilities, including the Kensico-Eastview Connection project, better known as Water Tunnel No. 3.

The tunnel, whose construction began in 1970, is part of the city’s broader water supply system. It runs alongside Tunnels No. 1 (1917) and No. 2 (1936), offering reserve capacity and redundancy. Water Tunnel No. 3 will have a total length of approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) and is expected to be completed in 2032.

Since 2017, New York State has invested approximately $6 billion in local water systems. For fiscal year 2024 alone, $2.2 billion has been allocated to water infrastructure projects, with an additional $500 million already planned in the 2026 budget law.

Even Chicago, since its founding, has a long history of water-related challenges. Sewage management, maintaining its numerous waterways, and flood control have always been structural problems for the Illinois city.

In the 1960s, the metropolis embarked on a major engineering solution, the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, also known as the Deep Tunnel Project, which created a system of 175 kilometers of tunnels and three large reservoirs for wastewater.

The project is largely complete, with construction currently underway on the McCook Reservoir, which is expected to be finished by 2029.

The capital city of Washington, D.C., is still engaged in a project called Clean Rivers to clean up its water and treat wastewater. This is a massive water infrastructure designed to capture and treat stormwater during rainfall before it reaches the capital’s rivers, Anacostia, Potomac, and Rock Creek, with the goal of reducing sewer overflows into waterways.

The water treatment plant is already partially operational but will be completed in 2030 with the finalization of the system under the Potomac.

One of the project’s key works is the tunnel under the Anacostia, built by Lane Construction, a company part of the Webuild Group, in a joint venture also with Webuild. This intervention has significantly improved the District’s water capacity, reducing the frequency, intensity, and duration of sewage overflows.

Lane is also completing the Northeast Boundary Tunnel (NEBT), which is considered a strategic element of the entire program.

The increase in extreme rainfall is urgently pushing American metropolitan areas to invest in new water infrastructure.

From capturing and filtering rainwater, to wastewater systems, to modernizing tunnels and distribution systems, these projects are fundamental to ensuring drinking water supplies and urban resilience in an era of climate change.

The cities of the future are also built this way: one meter of tunnel at a time.