Water C

The ASCE says its national report card, similar to this state-focused report, rated America’s overall infrastructure as deserving a "D."

More than 100 civil engineering professionals, with specialized technical expertise in the eight infrastructure categories, volunteered to produce the report card. They analyzed technical reports, inspection records, budgets, maintenance schedules and other documents to arrive at letter grades for the infrastructure. The committee members evaluated reports on the physical conditions of the infrastructure areas, and studied funding sources and trends that impact maintenance and upgrades. In almost every category, lack of funding was cited as a reason for the low grades.

Citing potential solutions for addressing the worst grade – a "D" for levees/flood control – Paul Meyer, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Cos. of California, said that since today's engineers and construction contractors have "much better tools and much more knowledge about levees than we had when most of our levees were originally designed and constructed, [we shouldn't] wait for another life threatening disaster to happen."

"Not only is this essential for human safety, it will also be far, far cheaper to fix our levees in advance than it will be to do major clean up and repair work after a disaster," he said.

The report card can be viewed at ">www.ascecareportcard.org.