I worked for the stormwater division of my city up until recently.
We had 6 people responsible for the inspection of over 30,000 pieces of stormwater infrastructure all of which needs to be inspected within a 5 year cycle. We also have to deal with citizen complaints, assisting other departments, updating maps/inventories, writing EPD/EPA reports, etc. and all for 15-18$/hr. My experience is far from abnormal as well.
We need city level government to actually give a shit about stormwater infrastructure to even get things working halfway properly let alone setup safety features.