The nation's rickety watermains will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to repair.There are several things and events that would cause your basement to flood: domestic accidents resulting from carelessness while doing the laundry, natural causes like flash floods -- or perhaps a leaking water main beneath your home.

The Ithaca Journal reports that water pipelines throughout the U.S. are in need of drastic repairs, as there have been leaks that have wasted billions of gallons of water over the past several years. Local governments haven't been able to do much to resolve this issue, as they are having difficulty convincing water utilities customers that the pipeline infrastructure is deteriorating. The pipeline leakage problem hasn't reached the level of a crisis, but the situation will definitely worsen if no action is taken.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, water companies and municipal governments will have to invest $277 billion on repairs over the next 20 years. The cost of repairs will likely increase dramatically if the repairs are delayed for much longer, and allowing the water mains to continue deteriorating would have devastating consequences such as flooded city streets, basements, lawns, and highways.