Cities across the United States are facing a growing confrontation with their underground infrastructure. As time moves on, the systems only get older and stressed, and climate impacts such as heavier storms and aggressive freeze-thaw cycles chomp American cities at the bit. The leading response in 2025 has been GI, or green infrastructure (think permeable pavements, bioswales, and even sustainable drainage systems) to reduce runoff, ease overburdened sewers, and increase system adaptability.
As great as these systems can be, city and municipality management has only [literally] scratched the surface, as what’s underground needs just as much attention for growing needs for 2026. Durable, resilient access points are critical for ensuring GI systems remain operational, sustainable, and safe. Cities like Miami, Orlando and Fort Worth are getting ahead of the issue and future-proofing their wastewater infrastructure with the Poo Pit™.
Why Infrastructure Resilience & Green Infrastructure Both Matter
The challenges affecting stormwater and wastewater systems are threefold: they’re aging long past their useful life, cities need to be more thoughtful with taxpayer spending, and to make matters worse extreme weather only amplifies their condition. The pressure of climate, aging infrastructure and funding are the biggest issues affecting the stormwater industry (Mark Doneux via The Utility Expo) and only heighten the risk of system failures, overflows and costly emergency repairs.
Green infrastructure (nature based, decentralized tactics like rain gardens, permeable pavement and tree trenches) help intercept and manage stormwater at the source, but these approaches alone can’t enhance system resilience and don’t offset the aging concrete systems beneath the cities they’re planted in.
The Poo Pit™ Sets the Foundation for that Resilience Mission
Where GI can work aboveground, the success of wastewater systems really falls on the structure below. Poo Pit™’s access chambers bring watertight, freeze-thaw resilient, and corrosion-resistant alternatives to traditional concrete manholes through rotomolded polyethylene engineering. With a 100-year design life, 15-minute installations and reduced safety risks (no confined-space entry for routine operations), Poo Pit™ isn’t just another layer of protection for GI networks, they reset the foundation needed for them.
Permeable surfaces and swales channel runoff redirects water toward underground systems, leaking and deteriorating systems are the last thing cities need to worry about. The Poo Pit™ functions to ensure underground wastewater infrastructure stays durable, serviceable, and most importantly safe, aligning perfectly with GI’s drive for resilient and long-term infrastructure strategy.
The Strongest Systems are Built from the Bottom-Up
Urban water mangement’s future lies in the hands of integrated solutions. Visible additions like green infrastructure is a great touch and a good complement, but won’t have the full effect unless their essential below-ground counterparts are thriving first. The Poo Pit™ modules strengthen GI goals by saving costs for cities (see the Poo Pit™ Calculator), reduces maintenance risk and improves durability for a fresh system lifespan from the bottom up.
Municipalities looking to build smart, sustainable and resilient wastewater systems need to ask the right questions first. By knowing the condition of what’s beneath the surface of their cities is the start. To see how other cities across the country have been doing it, explore these case studies, or reach out to learn more about Poo Pit™’s mission to redefine American wastewater systems here.
