I do wish the author didn't continually repeat that "rusty pipes" were the causative factor in the Flint crisis, as it was the exposure of lead pipes to highly corrosive river water that was the primary concern. Having said that, corrosion of iron pipes consumes chlorine used to protect against pathogens, so while the presence of rust was itself an unpleasant but not itself harmful signal, it was symptomatic of the corrosion that unleashed toxic levels of lead and risked the growth of harmful pathogens.
I have more and more trouble as each year goes by of picturing a prosperous United States in 50-75 years time. That isn't to say there's going to be some huge revolution or massive collapse in our economy. But barring a third world war that can allow politicians to play fast and loose with public funds, political friction is SO high on all the most important issues of building a nation, that I think the U.S. may have hit an apex of development.<p>Yes, technology will continue to improve. But the great philanthropists of our past and future had and still have little interest in building high speed rail, repairing old bridges, dredging harbors, or laying fiber.<p>Google's pervasive internet may be as useful for the 19 million Americans estimated to still not have access to broadband as the abjectly poor in sub-Saharan Africa.
Not mentioned in most discussions about infrastructure is that the US routinely spends 5 - 10x other developed countries for like pieces of infrastructure due to how projects are planned and implemented. This huge degree of waste, more than anything else, is what holds infrastructure development back.<p>If we could get 5x the amount of infrastructure for the money, most of these problems would be magically solved. But this solution involves a lot of hard work reforming processes many have a vested interest in keeping exactly the same, rather than just throwing more money at the problem.