An ounce of prevention …

Thursday, April 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

There are advantages to living in comparatively new cities such as Las Vegas. For one, our water mains are still in pretty good shape, meaning that for now we are avoiding colossal repair bills.

We do experience periodic water rate increases, such as one proposed to begin in May. These increases, though, are imposed to keep pace with inflation, to pay for new pipelines and to all but compel conservation in our desert environment.

But we’re not facing the steep water rate hikes that will soon affect residents of older cities across the country. Their water bills will go up drastically in the near future as the cost of repairing aging pipelines can no longer be postponed.

The Environmental Protection Agency predicts utilities in older cities will spend $277 billion over the next 20 years on repairs or replacement lines.

That is a gross underestimation, says the American Water Works Association. Engineers with that industry group, according to the Associated Press, put the cost at about $480 billion — almost all of it to be paid through rate increases.

Part of the reason repairs are so costly is that the deeply buried pipelines are apt to be a century or more old, and maintenance over the decades has been lax. Now there are leaks, many of them major, all along their routes, and the routes go on for dozens, even hundreds, of miles.

Additionally, lines must be laid in many cases, either because the areas they serve have no alternative source of water if the existing lines are shut down for repairs, or because the existing lines would collapse entirely if not supported by their constant flow of water.

Had the cities now being affected by the aging pipelines been more conscientious about making incremental repairs over the decades, and more willing to assess equally incremental rate hikes for the repairs, they would not be in such a mess. This lesson is one the newer cities, including Las Vegas, should always remember.