Without these things, we would not have clean, drinkable water, or the ability to convey wastewater away from our homes to treatment facilities, or systems to handle the vast amounts of garbage we produce, or anything to drive on to accommodate our four-wheel lifestyles.

FORBES: 2012 is the Year America Must Get Serious About its Infrastructure

These riverside towns also hope to bargain for federal dollars in order, among other things, to clean up the land that riverside industry polluted.

ECONOMIST: Cities and rivers