The Associated Press is running a story which reminds that much of the nation’s infrastructure is underground, where it is out of sight and out of mind — until it fails.
The latest string of sinkholes started in the Detroit suburb of Fraser on Christmas Eve. Of 22 houses affected by the sinkhole, three have been condemned. Officials temporarily evacuated 19 others because water and gas service had to be shut off. About 400,000 people in nearby communities were asked to take shorter showers and wash only full loads of clothes as part of a voluntary water conservation plea until a fix is completed.
I dislike seeing the word ‘sinkhole’ used to describe a non-natural subsidence associated with infrastructure failure, but the underlying point is legit: There is a lot of pipe buried under America’s streets, a lot of it has corroded away, and a lot of dirt is washing into it — undermining the structures at the ground surface. It’s a grim, costly, painful reminder of how old and decrepit a lot of America’s infrastructure actually is.