According to a report from Tombstone Public Works in December, the city loses 40 percent of its water from treatment to tap, due to leaks in infrastructure systems as well as other issues, like people using the water illegally.

Public Works Director Phil Korte does not think that number has changed since December as he and other Tombstone officials continue attacking the town's leaky infrastructure.

"Not that I can tell at this point," he said when asked if there have been any changes. "We've had so many leaks, I couldn't even give you an educated guess."

The issue with Tombstone's infrastructure is that some of it is 120 years old, according to City Clerk George Barnes, and is simply falling apart.

According to Barnes, officials have found some unknown lines that used to feed into the mines and other things as well.

"When you discover them you realize there's water running day and night," he said. "It's a hole in the ground. So every time one of those is found you interrupt it or plug it."

Barnes said that another issue is that Tombstone's water meter infrastructure is very old. According to Barnes the water meters run very slowly and don't recognize low flows of water.

"One of the estimates that we've had from a company that we've talked with is that old meters can sometimes amount to a 20 percent difference in actual water versus measured water," he said.

If that is the case, then Tombstone may only lose 20 percent of water from treatment to tap, but that is up in the air.

"It sounds like an amazing number until you work all of the other things against it," Barnes said.

Korte said he thinks 30 to 40 percent is a pretty standard loss for older cities like Tombstone.

A History Channel documentary on the nation's infrastructure offered that Buffalo, N.Y., loses 40 percent of its water for the same reason.

Some cities in Arizona, such as Tucson, however, are mandated to limit water losses to 13 percent.

Fernando Molina, conservation program manager of Tucson Water, said that Tombstone's number seems very high.

"That's basically half of their water that gets withdrawn is never making it," he said. "So they're paying for energy costs for water that's never being used."

Molina said that some of the water pipes in downtown Tucson are also 100 years old and have had to be rehabilitated. Rehabilitating or plugging the leaks is much more inexpensive than replacing the pipes.

"The infrastructure replacement costs are going to go really really high, simply because there is a lot of really old infrastructure in pipes and reservoirs and valves out there," he said.

"One reason we probably will see water rates going up, not just here in Tucson but everywhere, is just to maintain our infrastructure."

The city of Tombstone applied for and was awarded a grant from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) last December, but those grants are to be used for preliminary engineering and not for construction. The funds were used for the arsenic study that was recently completed, said Barnes.

But even those grants aren't completely free.

"The city also has to pay 40 percent to match to the 60 percent WIFA money," said Barnes. "So you get a grant, but it's really only like half a grant."

What WIFA will do is loan the city money to do construction. Barnes said the city is going to submit another application to do some improvements at the springs in the Huachuca Mountains where water is gathered.

According to Mayor Jack Henderson, budget slashing is going to make projects difficult for the city.

"Our census cut us back a little bit, so we're going to be operating with a revenue stream that's approximately $143,000 less than what our revenue stream was for this year, and that is just an awesome burden on a town with a little budget."

Cities all over the country are experiencing the same problems,as water infrastructure systems are aging.

"This is probably one of the bigger expenses that utilities all around the country, if not the world, will be seeing in the next 40 years," said Molina.

For now the city of Tombstone will simply have to fix the leaks one by one.

"We have a small work force and we're trying to just provide water and services to the citizens of the city," said Henderson.