Episodes: 2020

In our final episode of the season, we offer news you can use on lead service lines and bidets, and our producers go head to head in trying to persuade a college student with an avowed lack of interest in water infrastructure to care about it.

Giant engineering projects didn’t solve all of Chicago’s water woes. Intense rainfalls are dumping more water on the city, resulting in more flooding. So what can Chicago do? Some point to green infrastructure.

In the 1990s, lakes and wetlands dried up in Florida’s fast-growing Tampa Bay region. Some attributed the drastic change to drought; others to overpumping of an underground aquifer. A pitched legal battle, known as the Water Wars, played out.

One in five U.S. households isn’t connected to a sewer system. Today we leave the big cities behind and ask: How does rural America manage its water infrastructure? The story highlights a struggle felt across much of the country: In areas without a large tax base, it can be nearly impossible to maintain infrastructure properly.

Flint was a wakeup call. But there are thousands of other towns and cities in the United States that still get water through lead pipes ... and scientists say that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Cities have to stop dumping raw sewage into their rivers, but it’s not a simple task. Chicago’s strategy has been to spend 50 years, building an enormous system of tunnels and reservoirs.

The toilet is just the start of the story for human waste. In this episode, we’ll explore the fascinating world beyond the flush.

When cholera epidemics swept across Europe in the 19th century, nearly everyone figured stinky air was to blame. A London doctor discovered dirty water was the cause. That finding changed human history.

From history to policy to full-on drama, In Deep dives headfirst into the troubling state of the mysterious networks that keep our water clean and coming out of the tap.