About 75 percent of Indianapolis' drinking water comes from rivers and streams; the rest is from ground water. Dr. Lenora Tedesco the Director of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Indiana University Purdue University says access to clean water is a future concern we should start address now.

The work underway in Indianapolis to improve the city's water and sewer system comes with a hefty price tag: $1.7 billion by recent estimates. We'll take a look at how the price tag has delayed action, ballooned to the cost today, and why the expenses won't solve all Indy's water troubles.

With society in general more aware of the fragile state of our environment... it's helped Indianapolis "sell" the wastewater rehab project to residents who will be paying the bill planners and engineers are more aware too... as they coordinate to shore-up the infrastructure.

Most of us don't think much about having clean water - it's there everyday on demand ..as much as we want or need. It's vital to our public health and economic development. Yet there are warnings about our recreational use of Central Indiana's White River... something called combined sewer overflows are not what you'd want to play in or drink... but the river is a major source of our drinking water.

More than 300 million Americans use an average of 100 gallons of water each day. Every home and business depends on water. In "Laying the Pipes" we examine what it takes to maintain our drinking water, wastewater and storm water systems. We'll tell you why some of those systems are on the verge of collapse nationwide and who will pay for repairs. We'll also check out new technology and explain what consumers can do to help sustain the water supply.