You should read Cadillac Dessert. Lots of water projects aren't profitable on their own (generally irrigation projects) and rely on hydroelectric revenues to appear financially viable.
This book probably is the best for understanding how this infrastructure was built in the first place. Isn't ever river dammed west of the Mississippi? That was a crazy amount of work that two rival govt. agencies did very much in competition until they ran out of rivers to build dams for.
So it is no surprise that this infrastructure - built in very different political circumstances to today - is not going to be maintained. When you look at all of it - infrastructure, America - none of it is going to be maintained when the oil runs out. Suburbia with those nice big highways wasn't ever going to be viable post oil. Hopefully Tesla can make U.S. suburbia viable.
