The problem’s especially pronounced in the Midwest.

In Texas, for instance, a new law licenses high school students for jobs monitoring and treating drinking water and wastewater.

Direct potable reuse technology, which lets cities pump treated wastewater back into pipes, is picking up steam from Colorado to California.

Ford needed a sewer line to build its $5.6 billion plant in Tennessee. But neighboring communities now have to build their own wastewater system to accommodate new residents who come for the new plant jobs.