The nation’s crumbling infrastructure was suddenly a local story in your community newspaper last week. The page 1 headline blared “Shelter Bay water line break required boil water advisory.” Less conspicuously, without water constantly leaking, was the page 2 headline for the town council meeting: “Town Council reviews local infrastructure priorities.” All of a sudden, the rhetoric from the far-off other Washington has come home: water pipes on both sides of the Swinomish Channel are at the end of their lifespans.

In 2018 La Conner replaced the water main on La Conner Whitney Road from Young...