Where do we get our water?

"Where do we get our water" is such a simple question for us that it seems silly to ask. Water shortages in the U.S. mean that we're asked to water our lawns less frequently or to forgo washing our car for a few weeks. I don't believe that I have ever woke up in the morning and wondered "where will I go to get water today?"

We live in Chicago and that means we get our water from Lake Michigan, less than a mile from our house. If you walk along the shore of the lake in Chicago you will see brick buildings about two miles out that seem to float on the water. These buildings were first built in the mid-1800's. As Chicago grew, so did the amount of waste created. The region around Chicago built several canals and reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that sewage would flow away from the Lake. Starting in the 1970's a project nicknamed "Deep Tunnel" was started to handle high volumes of waste during rainstorms or snow melts. The project cost $4 billion.

The water I use every day is the result of a large body of natural water, more than 150 years of engineering, hundreds of miles of tunnels and pipes, a network of treatment plants and massive investment. All I have to do is turn on the tap.