Our national infrastructure is literally falling apart:

First, Atlanta:

Water shortages aren't limited to the Southwest. When Georgians faced drought last fall, residents of Atlanta pitched in to reduce their consumption, yet as much of 18 percent of the city's water was hemorrhaging through leaking pipes. A similar situation is found throughout the country. Municipal lines running beneath the streets lose massive volumes of water, as do privately owned pipes that carry water to houses and other buildings.

Florida, anyone?

n 2006, engineering experts calculated that in any given year there is a 1-in-6 chance that the Herbert Hoover Dike will fail, releasing waters from Lake Okeechobee. If that happened, South Florida's water supply could be contaminated, and 40,000 lakeside residents could be threatened by flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers has been working on improvements, but funding is limited–for the 2009 budget year, the government alloted about half of the requested money. In February 2008, a 1000-ft.-long stretch of dangerously eroded land was found near state-owned floodgates north of the lake.

Idaho's got more than potatoes:

Idaho's Dover Bridge sees about 5000 vehicles per day, and we don't envy the drivers. The bridge scored an outrageously low "sufficiency rating" of 2 out of 100 in the National Bridge Inventory. Last year, a 30 x 30-in. piece of the deck was found hanging by its rebar. Replacing the bridge would cost $25 million; the funds have not materialized.

How about Kalee-forn-ee-ya:

Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers declared 122 levees in the country "at risk of failure." Of these, 19 were on California's Sacramento River. To pick just one, if the Natomas Levee were to fail, floodwaters surging from the Sacramento River could endanger many of the 70,000 area residents–and put Sacramento International Airport and the ARCO Arena, home to the NBA's Sacramento Kings, under as much as 20 ft. of water. Ongoing efforts to investigate and repair the levees have been met with opposition from local officials, who question the Corps' analysis. Levees protecting the delta at the mouth of the river are in bad shape, too. A failure there could compromise freshwater supplies for two-thirds of the state's population.

And Kentucky:

Fixing the 5736-ft.-long Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky is one of the highest priorities for the Army Corps of Engineers. Although every dam suffers a degree of seepage, Wolf Creek's limestone foundation has been dissolving at an alarming rate, a problem that was initially detected in 1968–16 years after construction was completed. When the problem was detected again in 2005, the Corps lowered Lake Cumberland and began an ambitious repair effort. But despite the ongoing construction work, the danger of collapse hasn't been significantly reduced, and probably won't be for years–the earliest possible completion date for the work is in 2012. Until then, downstream communities, including Nashville, Tenn. remain at risk.

Remember, muni bond markets, those places where cities and counties go to raise money to repair infrastructure are a mess right now and for the near future.

Do you feel safe driving on the bridges in your city? Or across local dams?