If you don’t have good water, it doesn’t matter what other resources you have. Securing a good public water supply is one of the most basic but most important concerns for any town. Like many municipalities, Baton Rouge, La., has found its water supply stressed to its limits by population growth and city expansion.  

 Water, the cliché says, is life. I think it’s clear from this month’s story (page 10) out of Baton Rouge, La., where drillers took a clever tactic to protect that city’s freshwater supply. We need freshwater for everything from irrigation to showers, and in some areas, we need creative problem solving to get it.