Report: Damage to Underground Utility Lines Costs Iowans Roughly $169.2 Million Every Year

(Iowa) -- A new report finds that damage to underground utility lines costs Iowans millions every year.

A study from the Common Ground Alliance finds Iowa experiences more than 1,664 damages to underground utility lines every year, which can cause service outages from emergency responders and businesses and lead to property damage and personal injury. The study finds Iowans lose $13 dollars to those costs for every one dollar spent on repairs to underground utility lines, resulting in $169.2 million dollars a year on average.

For context, the study finds that the average annual cost from damage to underground utility lines is roughly the same as the cost of replacing the Black Hawk Bridge over the Mississippi River in Lansing, Iowa. Nationally, damage to buried utility lines costs an average of $83.2 billion dollars each year.

The full study is available on the Common Ground Alliance website.