Clayton County, GA, started a wastewater reclamation project more than 20 years ago, which now includes thousands of acres of forest and man-made wetlands with 10 million gallons of wastewater flowing back into the system each day. While most of Atlanta has a few months of water remaining, Clayton County has the bulk of a year's worth, and their methods are being adapted in dry locations worldwide:

It started in the 1980s, when the county began digging ponds to store wastewater. Clayton purchased a 4,000-acre forest and laid 300 miles of pipeline. The county then installed 20,000 sprinklers throughout the forest. The sprinklers sprayed wastewater, soaking the soil and letting the water flow into two man-made reservoirs — Shamrock and Blalock.

At the time, Clayton was considered one of the nation's leading systems for water technology. But by 2000, that technology could not keep up with growth.

The forest, wedged between Jonesboro and Lovejoy, was running out of room to expand, and the sprinklers were not enough to soak the ground to restore water to the system.

The county replaced the maze of pipes with a 48-inch pipe that runs about 6.6 miles under Freeman Road. It purchased another 400 acres of hilly land and began digging small ponds and planting. Today, cattails, bulrush, water lilies and prickle weeds fill the area.