I also remember that my federal govt doesn't provide me with clean drinking water. That is organized by the city, county, state govts. The drive to set up clean water supply here did not start with the Feds. It started with locals organizing their own water supply.
It does in Arizona. I feel a little dizzy and discombobulated while saying it, being the cranky libertarian anarchist here, but all the water in the Phoenix metro area is a function of the Colorado River Compact and/or the Salt River Project. SRP is a locally organized utility cooperative, but it relied upon the Federal Bureau of Reclamation for two dams, the biggest of which is Roosevelt Dam. Most of Phoenix's water comes from the Colorado River Project and a giant diversion canal that runs from Parker on the AZ/CA border all the way to Phoenix (190 miles). The Salt River is far smaller than the Colorado, and drains into the Colorado anyways, near Yuma, as the Gila River at that point. The Salt's reservoirs along its way are miniscule compared to Havasu, Mead, Mojave and the other enormous reservoirs on the Colorado.
One might draw a distinction between just "water" and "clean drinking water" if they wanted to quibble. Technically I pay the City of Mesa for water services. They sanitize it. but it certainly isn't sourced from anywhere in reach of the City of Mesa.
Wow. I just defended government. I must be feeling a bit off.
