(ふるい)

old (things)

(すいどうかん)

water pipe; water main

(こうかんこうじ)

replacement work

(ぜんこく)

nationwide; the whole country

(すすむ)

to advance, to progress

(あたらしい)

new

(こうじ)

construction work

(にほん)

Japan

(おおい)

many

(ねん)

year

(ほど)

approximately; about; to the extent

(まえ)

before, previous

(つくる)

to build, to manufacture

(きめる)

to decide

(じゅみょう)

lifespan, service life

(こえる)

to exceed

(もの)

thing

(すくない)

few, scarce

(かくち)

various places, everywhere

(やぶれる)

to tear; to burst; to break

(どうろ)

Road; street

(みず)

water

(あふれる)

to overflow; to flood

(じこ)

accident; incident

(おきる)

to happen, occur

(だんすい)

water supply cutoff

(つづく)

to continue

(せいかつ)

daily life; livelihood

(しごと)

work, job

(おおきな)

big (attrib.)

(えいきょう)

Influence; impact; effect

(でる)

to come out; to occur

(くに)

country; the government

(じちたい)

local government / municipality

(てんけん)

inspection

(こうかん)

exchange; swap

(いそぐ)

to hurry, to rush

(もとめる)

to seek, request

(ただし)

however, provided that

(ひよう)

expense, cost

(じかん)

time

(かかる)

to take (time/money), cost

(じんこう)

population

(へる)

to decrease / to diminish

(ちいき)

region; area

(すいどうりょうきん)

water charges; water bill

(しゅうにゅう)

income, revenue

(ふたん)

burden, bear (cost)

(おもい)

heavy

(ふくすう)

several, plural

(しちょうそん)

municipalities; cities, towns and villages

(きょうりょく)

cooperation

(すいどうじぎょう)

waterworks operations

(うんえい)

management / administration

(うごき)

movement; trend

(ひろがる)

to spread

to become (い-adjective)

Expresses a change of state for い-adjectives. Drop the final い and add くなる. Indicates something has changed or will change to a new state.

To make ~ (adjective)

い-adjective stem + くする means 'to make something (adjective).' 安くする means 'to make cheaper.'

is doing, has been doing (ongoing state/action)

Expresses a continuing action or resulting state. Formed with て-form + いる. Can describe an action in progress or a state resulting from a past change.

and (formal ～ている)

Formal/written form of ～ていて, connecting clauses. Here competition is becoming fierce, and... (激しくなっており).

passive voice: was/were ~ed

Passive form indicating that the subject receives the action. '食べられて' means 'were eaten'. Central grammar of this article about tulips being eaten by deer.

there are not a few ~, quite a few ~

A double negative used in news writing to say a number is significant without giving a figure. Here it means quite a few bridges are still closed.

if / when (natural consequence)

Conditional と indicating a natural or expected result. 一緒に捨てると…火が出て means 'if you throw them away together, fire starts.'

in response to ~; toward ~

Signals Israel's response to the international criticism mentioned previously.

to request/urge that ~

注意するよう求めています means experts are urging people to be careful of aftershocks.

古い水道管の交換工事が全国で進む

Work to replace old water pipes is moving ahead nationwide

全国で、古くなった水道管を新しくする工事が進んでいる。

Across the country, work to replace aging water pipes with new ones is under way.

日本の水道管の多くは50年ほど前に造られており、決められた寿命を超えたものも少なくない。

Many of Japan's water pipes were built about 50 years ago, and quite a few have passed the service life set for them.

各地では水道管が破れ、道路に水があふれる事故が起きている。

In various places, accidents are happening in which water pipes burst and water floods the roads.

断水が続くと、生活や仕事に大きな影響が出る。

When a water outage drags on, daily life and work are seriously affected.

国は自治体に対し、点検と交換を急ぐよう求めている。

The national government is calling on local authorities to hurry with inspections and replacements.

ただし、工事には多くの費用と時間がかかる。

That said, the work takes a great deal of money and time.

人口が減っている地域では水道料金の収入も減り、負担は重くなっている。

In areas where the population is shrinking, income from water charges is falling too, and the burden is growing heavier.

複数の市町村が協力して水道事業を運営する動きも広がっている。

A move toward several municipalities working together to run their waterworks is also spreading.