Torrential rains flooded parts of the East Coast as Hurricane Ida swept up the country. Along with it came flooding that experts had warned about and that cities were not able to handle. It highlighted the perfect storm that is bearing down on this country: aging water infrastructure and climate change threaten already failing and fragile water systems. As we wait to see what the fate of the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal will be, it’s clear that we need to dedicate a large swath of money to overhaul water infrastructure and to address how urban areas mitigate the impacts of climate change. According to CNN, $55 billion is being proposed to “upgrade water infrastructure” and another $50 billion would be dedicated to “making the system more resilient -- protecting it from drought, floods and cyber attacks.” Will this be enough?

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