By Clara Lincolnhol
The United States would need to invest nearly $3.4 trillion over the next 20 years to sufficiently fix and update its drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, according to research by the advocacy organization Value of Water Campaign.
Much of the country’s water infrastructure was built 40 to 50 years ago and is showing its age. Michigan’s is no exception.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Michigan a D+ grade for its drinking water infrastructure, a D in storm water management and a C for its wastewater infrastructure in 2023 – the most recent year of assessment.
Michigan’s wastewater rating is better than the national rating – which is a D, said Jeff Johnston, a public information officer at the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
“Obviously though, we want to be better than a C, and we want to be doing the best we can,” he said. “Wastewater management is important for protecting the environment and public health.”
He said there are multiple initiatives underway to improve infrastructure.
Michigan needs nearly $6 billion in stormwater improvements and the state was awarded $907.4 million in loans through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to develop municipal storm-water utilities in communities across the state, Johnston said.
As of a couple of years ago, Ann Arbor was the only city in Michigan with a storm-water utility.
He said as climate change intensifies storms and the state sees more severe weather events, cities are flooding because their infrastructure cannot handle the extra water – which is why it’s important to have these utilities.
“Being able to manage large volumes of stormwater because of these more severe weather events – some of these systems we have are not built for the added capacity that they now have to handle or will have to handle in the future,” he said.
In 2014, aging pipes in Flint leached lead into the drinking water, exposing thousands of residents to dangerous levels of lead.
The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy focused on mitigating that public health crisis and supported removal and replacement of lead water lines throughout the state to prevent something similar from happening again, he said.
“That’s been a high priority, so we’re pleased to have made significant progress on that area,” he said.
In 2024, the department replaced 24,521 lead service lines.
It would take $1.6 trillion to fix the entire nation’s drinking water infrastructure alone, according to research by the Environmental Protection Agency. Most of that money would be used to develop distribution and transmission systems.
This research does not take into account the money needed to supply water for the growth of the AI industry.
Data centers use up to 5 million gallons of water a day, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute in Washington. Data centers use the water to cool their facilities.
Michigan is a desired location for data center developments due to the availability of water, a stable energy grid, plenty of rural land and less vulnerability to natural disasters, said Russell Whipple, the mayor of Mason, south of Lansing.
“There are people who are very concerned about water since a data center could potentially use tons and tons of water, like hundreds of thousands to a million gallons a day,” Whipple said.
He said Mason is conducting a study of its aquifer and water infrastructure to determine what the capacity would be for the city to draw from the aquifer, he said.
“Any data center that might come to us is going to be limited to whatever that study determines is the reasonable amount for such a development,” Whipple said.
Federal funding for water infrastructure in the 1980s used to make up over half of the federal budget but has dropped dramatically throughout the past couple of decades. In 2023, the federal share of funding was 8% while the remaining 92% of funding came from the states, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 fiscal year budget would cut federal funding for water infrastructure even more, from $2.76 billion now to $305 million.
Researchers say state and local governments could provide up to $1.5 trillion of the $3.4 trillion, leaving the need for $2 trillion. Researchers say this gap will increase if the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expires.
That will happen in September 2026 if it is not reauthorized. Michigan would lose about $286 million if that law expires.
If its water infrastructure funding needs are met, Michigan would gain over 41,000 jobs related to construction, the supply chain and operations, according to the Value of Water Campaign.