America's Infrastructure

The ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) has recently put out a "report card" giving their overall grades for different aspects of American's Infrastructure. The society has researched the major structural categories Americans' deal with every day, and has given each a grade from A to F, respectively. The four main categories are Water and Environment, Transportation, Energy, and Public Facilities. Each of those categories were broken down into subcategories such as; dams, drinking water, hazardous waste, levees, solid waste, wastewater, aviation, bridges, rail, roads, transit, inland waterways, energy, public parks and recreation, and schools. Saying the grades are bad would be an understatement. In my opinion, the grades are hideous. No categories failed, thank the lord, but the following categories were given a D score (- or +); Aviation, Dams, Drinking Water, Energy, Hazardous Waste, Inland Waterways, Levees, Roads, Schools, Transit, and Wastewater. Eleven of fifteen categories received a score of a D. I have no words to explain why this is, but this is utterly pathetic. The following four categories received a score of C (+ or -); Bridges, Public Parks and Recreation, Rail, and Solid Waste. This is completely embarrassing. America is the Nation who is supposedly ahead of everyone else in every way, shape, or form. Yet we managed to receive a D for our cumulative score on our infrastructure. The ASCE estimated that over a five year period, we would need access to about 2.2 trillion dollars if we want to rightfully fix this problem. The largest portion of money would need to go to roads and bridges, an estimated 549 billion dollars. We really need to start worrying more about this issue, because our infrastructure is very important in the function of everyday life. It is also scary that our drinking water received a grade of D-. Since water is vital for everyday life, should we really settle for drinking water that is below average?