Baltimore’s massive water and sewage system is its most valuable asset, and delivers water and wastewater services to more than 1.5 million people in the city, Baltimore county and neighboring counties.

The system is owned and operated by the city, but the future governance is unclear. The Baltimore Regional Water Governance Task Force has spent months considering potential changes, with disagreement between the county and city on how it should be run.

Professor Louise Seamster joins us to discuss how metropolitan areas similar to Baltimore have handled the question of governance over their water and sewage systems, and where those choices have led them.

Seamster is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and African American Studies in the University of Iowa, where she studies how cities and counties own and operate water-wastewater infrastructure.

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