By Sarah Breitenbach
Stateline.org
As drought grips California, floods overpower Texas and Eastern cities grapple with crumbling sewers that pump contaminated runoff into waterways, state and local governments are revisiting how they get, use and manage water.
One method is to harness the rain. Some governments are doing this through massive systems that treat and pump stormwater back to residents, while others are looking to the installation of rain collection systems for homes and businesses. A few cities are introducing green infrastructure designed to put water back into the ground rather than letting it flow down the street.
Sally Brown, an associate professor at the University of Washington, said the last time governments spent significant amounts of money on water issues was after the Clean Water Act in the 1970s, when they had to change how they treated water and wastewater. Today, environmental factors coupled with water availability are forcing state and local officials to create new policies and invest financially to ensure future access to water.
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