This February, Marketplace’s Sustainability Desk will air a one-month series called “Water: The High Price of Cheap.”

Most people don’t realize how amazing it is that they can turn on a faucet and get unlimited amounts of clean, drinkable water. Little more than a century ago, water was considered dangerous, a source of illness and death (as it still is in much of the world). In this series, the Marketplace team will tell us how taking water for granted is threatening water supplies in very different parts of the U.S. Here’s a brief run-down of where we are headed.

• First Week of February: The Waters of Wisconsin
  Reporter Sarah Gardner visits her hometown of Waukesha, where she grew up learning about Waukesha’s beginnings as a spa. Today, because it followed a path of growth like many American communities, its water supply is contaminated and it needs a new source of water. When other water sources are already claimed, that’s tough. Waukesha is trying to break into the Great Lakes Compact, which reserves the lakes’ water for immediate neighbors.

• Second Week of February: The Waters of Florida
  Florida has tons of rain but its biggest industry is growth. The state has been over-pumping its aquifers, but now rising sea levels are also threatening the water supply of southern Florida, penetrating the aquifer, as much as the sea threatens the land. Dan Weissmann will look at how an entire region has to deal with the effects.

• Third Week of February: The Waters of California
  80% of California’s water goes to agriculture, which is one percent of the state’s enormous economy. Sarah Gardner looks at the Central Valley and the Sacramento River Delta to consider what would happen if severe drought broke this system of water use.

• Fourth Week of February: The Waters of Maryland
  You can be without water even when it’s all around you. That’s Baltimore, where the ancient water distribution system is failing and will take billions to repair. Scott Tong investigates, and explains how many other cities are in the same situation.

We hope you’ll support engaging your audiences with this important coverage, both on-air and online. We’ll have interactive graphics on water usage and cost, plus a method for figuring out your water footprint. Don’t forget to follow along with photo submissions from you and your audience about what water means to you, on our Instagram project using #waterlog.