That's because in many places the plumbing systems we depend on to get our water are at least 100 years old, and in Washington, D.C., for example, some pipes date back to the Civil War.

"Civil engineering professor develops 'superlaminate' industrial pipe repair system." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 September 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2011 / 09 / 110913103056.htm>.

Despite Civil War-era pipes, Americans resist water infrastructure renovation A significant water line bursts, on average, every two minutes in the United States, according to a New York Times ...

FLINT — The NAACP will invite "disruptive civil disobedience" in Flint if Gov. Rick Snyder doesn't present a plan in the next 30 days that has a deadline for replacing the city's water pipes ...

However, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 quadrennial infrastructure report card does not even mention the issue of the public health danger posed by lead water pipes.