KANSAS CITY, MO. -- A few months ago, Mayor Sly James told the U.S. Conference of Mayors that his city was 30 years overdue starting the process. That process--replacing the city’s 2,800 miles of water lines, is expected to take 100 years to complete.
The city plans to replace 28 miles per year, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. The water department’s engineering team took every record it could find dating back to the 19th century to create a database along with hydraulic modeling to help the city track the project and plan the repairs.
Terry Leeds, director of the city’s water services, told KCUR 89.3 that six years of double-digit rate increase is still not enough to replace aging pipes that are regularly breaking.
The first 25 years of work are estimated to cost $1.2 billion.
