First of all, there is no such thing as “The US Water System,” but tens of thousands of individual municipal, county and even private water systems, all in various stages of repair.  NBC is just scare-mongering when it suggests that there is some unitary “system” whose collapse of menacing the American people.

OTOH, the kernel of truth in this broadcast was spoken by Robert Hunter (I didn’t catch his title) when he said that the basis of the problem is political enthusiasm and obsession over non-critical projects such as hotels, convention centers and stadiums.  I applaud the Mayor of Atlanta for having the maturity and foresight to understand this and to focus on maintaining the systems that support all of the high-order functions of her city.

If I can mount my soapbox for a moment, this is one of the reasons we right-wing madmen are so adamant about keeping government out of things like stadiums, convention centers and hotels.  Not only does the private sector do a much better job of providing those amenities, but it also keeps government concentrated on the vital services held for common use, services that have suffered as political bodies have been distracted by their shiny objects.  Small government is good government.