Drinking water has earned a “C-” on the 2025 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which is the same score it received in 2021.
ASCE released the report card grading America’s infrastructure on March 25, 2025, where the country received an overall grade of “C,” its highest ever score.
How drinking water infrastructure earned a “C-” From ASCE
The ASCE Report Card highlighted the need for funding and building more resilient infrastructure. According to ASCE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that the nation’s water infrastructure needs stand at $625 billion over 20 years, exceeding EPA’s 2018 assessment by more than $150 billion.
“Our nations water infrastructure is aging and underfunded,” said Carol Haddock, vice chair of the committee, in a news briefing.
The report highlighted new funding opportunities, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which invested more than $30 billion for drinking water improvements, removal of lead service lines and addressing emerging contaminants like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The report also states that there have been funding shortfalls, like with state revolving funds that support drinking water.
“SRFs have had flat funding since 2020, earmarks have reduced the amount of funding,” said Pat Lach, chair of Illinois’ ASCE Report Card, in a news briefing.
ASCE stated that utilities are facing their own challenges, which include:
- Aging infrastructure
- Emerging contaminants
- Extreme weather
- Operational costs
“Many utilities are improving performance using innovation,” Haddock said in a news briefing. “We are seeing a wonderful deployment of innovations and technology.”
One improvement mentioned was asset management. ASCE reports that only 30% of utilities have fully implemented an asset management plan, but just under half are in the process of implementing one.
The report highlighted the need to utilize programs and assistance to meet new regulations, so the burden doesn’t fall on public water systems and ratepayers.
“Not only do we still have needs, but there’s new technologies and things that need to happen to meet all the regulatory changes,” Lach said in a news briefing.
Digging into drinking water details
WaterWorld interviewed ASCE Past President Greg DiLoretto on video to understand the finer details of the drinking water report and score. Below are some exerpts from that interview. Watch the full video here.
On funding water
"We won't be able to outpace it without funding, right? You can't get ahead of it. It took us a long time to get in this situation, so you're not going to get out of it overnight."
"We're still waiting to see the effect of [the infrastructure bill]. Primarily, the new money was in transportation with roads budgets and that kind of thing. Drinking water didn't get a whole lot of new money. I know it was $55 billion, which sounds like a lot of money, but you've got an entire nation that you've got to spread that over."
On aging infrastructure
"You need to make thoughtful, investment in the system. But you've got to make enough so that you can keep up with it so your pipes don't continue to break. You know, there are some 250,000 water main breaks a year. We're losing 6 billion gallons a day of drinking water."
On contamination responsibility
"The fact is that almost all wastewater and drinking water utilities are owned by local government, and they're funded by utility rates from you and I. The fact is many people feel those rates are becoming unaffordable. You add PFAS onto that and they become even more so. Then the question becomes, 'Is that really a federal responsibility?' If we want them cleaned up across this entire nation as we did back in the 70s when the clean water act went into place, then we need to fund it as a nation."
On asset management
"In our 2025 report card, we found that about a third of water agencies had actually implemented an asset management program, they tend to the be the larger ones, naturally. And another, I want to say, 35% getting close to a second third are actually undertaking putting one in place... It's been a great tool. Agencies are using it. It's helping them to decide when to spend money and how to spend it correctly."
ASCE grades wastewater with “D+”
Wastewater received a grade of “D+” on the 2025 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which is the same score it received in 2021.
The ASCE Report Card highlighted the importance of wastewater infrastructure, stating that the nation’s sewers are estimated to be worth over $1 trillion and include nearly 17,500 wastewater treatment plants.
The report stated that, over the last decade, the sector’s renewal and replacement rate for large capital projects decreased from 3% to 2% while the average number of collection system failures for combined water utilities increased from 2 to 3.3 per 100 miles of pipe.
ASCE emphasized the need for funding across the water sector, stating that the average bill for residential wastewater customers is increasing from $35 to nearly $65 per month from 2010 to 2020 — with locally generated funds still falling short.
“Our utilities are generally supported by rate payers, so there is a long-term expectation that the rates that are set should cover the needs of the utility,” said Carol Haddock, vice chair of the committee, in a news briefing. “It is the decades of under investment and rates lower than the actual cost of operating the utility that have caught up with us.”
Haddock stated that there has been a significant increase in the cost of operations for utilities, including:
- Cost of electricity
- Cost of chemicals
- Cost of employee workforce
These increased costs have occurred where rates have generally stayed stagnant, according to Haddock.
“We certainly are hoping to see some additional investments over the next five years, and that’s part of the recommendation to help tackle that,” Haddock said in a news briefing.
Pat Lach, chair of Illinois’ ASCE Report Card, stated that state revolving funds have had flat funding since 2020, which combined with earmarks being taken out for projects, has reduced the amount of funding that goes to different providers.
According to ASCE, in 2024 the wastewater and stormwater annual capital needs were $99 billion, whereas the funding gap was $69 billion, meaning only about 30% of the sector’s infrastructure capital needs are being met.
ASCE stated that assuming the combined wastewater and stormwater sector continues along the same path, the gap will grow to more than $690 billion by 2044.
Unpacking the wastewater score
Wastewater Digest spoke with ASCE Report Card Chair Derron Olson about why the wastewter score has remained flat after four years, how that score can be increased before the next report is filed. Watch the full interview here.
On funding
“We have a lot of infrastructure out there, and you know, wastewater infrastructure, like much of the nation's infrastructure, has been underfunded for decades and decades. And so we have this deferred maintenance that has occurred. And so this little uptick in funding we had with the IJA, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, there was an uptick of funding, but we had a huge backlog that really kind of absorbed a bunch of that funding.”
"For wastewater infrastructure projects, we all know those take a long time. When you think about he planning that goes into it, the permitting that goes into it, securing the federal funding throug hthe SRF programs, five to 10 years is not unheard of and is probably close to the average for some of theese wastewater projects."
On rate setting
“One of the ones on the funding side is... there’s pressure to not increase rates. I think the water sector is one of those sectors that is too many times out of sight, out of mind. And so people find it difficult to raise rates, when in reality, we’re just paying for the services that we’ve been having for a long time. We need to start getting into the mode of understanding that it’s acceptable to pay a rate that is equivalent to the service that you’re getting and the cost it requires to provide that service.”
“At the same time... the federal investment in our wastewater infrastructure has just nosedived in the last 50 years. In the 1970s... 70% of our water infrastructure was being helped out by federal funding. And now that’s down closer to 10%. So you've got this older infrastructure that used to be heavily federally funded, and it's not anymore. And we’re having a tough time raising rates—that’s this financial squeeze.”
On resilience
“We don’t want to design these systems to handle just what we’re seeing today or tomorrow. We need to start looking at what these systems are going to be exposed to 20, 50, 75 years from now. When you design infrastructure to be resilient, to withstand disruptions... in the long run, you pay a lot less because you’ve built a system that can either bounce back or withstand disruptions.”
Key takeaways from the 2025 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card
Key insights from the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure include:
- Grades increased or stayed the same in 16 categories since the prior report in 2021.
- If IIJA levels of funding are supported beyond the bill’s expiration in 2026, taxpayers will save $700 per year, according to ASCE.
- Stormwater and transit tied for the lowest grade of “D,” while ports earned the highest grade of “B.”
- The new category of broadband received a “C+.”
- Both energy (D+) and rail (B-) received declining grades due to safety and capacity concerns.
- Trends impacting U.S. infrastructure include extreme weather, the need for sustained investments and the need for reliable data.
- There is a funding gap of roughly $3.7 trillion across all infrstrucure sectors, according to ASCE.
The report highlighted the need for sustained investment, prioritizing resiliency and advancing policy in innovations.
About the Author
Alex Cossin
Associate Editor
Alex Cossin is the associate editor for Waterworld Magazine, Wastewater Digest and Stormwater Solutions, which compose the Endeavor Business Media Water Group. Cossin graduated from Kent State University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. Cossin can be reached at [email protected].
Bob Crossen
Editorial Director
Bob Crossen is the editorial director for WaterWorld Magazine, Wastewater Digest, Stormwater Solutions, and Water Quality Products, which compose the Endeavor Business Media Water Group. Crossen graduated from Illinois State University in Dec. 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in German and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He has worked in business-to-business journalism covering the drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and point-of-use/point-of-entry markets since April or 2016. Crossen can be reached at [email protected] or 847.954.7980.