All Episodes

Toward the end of our team’s time in Lake Charles, the city made one last push to clean up debris that was still left over from back-to-back hurricanes. No one could have predicted what happened next. In our final episode, we learn how residents are trying to move forward after a year of storms and how their experience could be repeated in other communities nationwide.

After severe storms struck Lake Charles, many homeowners expected to rebuild quickly. They had been paying home insurance premiums for years for just this moment. But instead of receiving prompt payouts, their claims were delayed and denied. In this episode, we learn how the insurance industry has started playing hardball after weather disasters — and what that might mean for communities across the country in the age of climate change.

People in Lake Charles expected the federal government to help them rebuild their battered city. That’s what they had been promised. That’s what had happened after previous storms. But this time was different. In this episode, we report on why the federal government kept thousands of storm victims waiting. And why similar neglect could happen anywhere in the nation.

In the wake of three historic storms, many residents of Lake Charles, Louisiana, were struggling. Roishetta Sibley Ozane felt she had to do something to keep her community together. She started feeding people, clothing people, even paying to house them in hotels. All while she struggled to find a permanent home for her six children. In this episode, we follow Roishetta as she becomes the safety net for a city that the federal government neglected.

In a span of nine months, Lake Charles, Louisiana, endured two hurricanes, an ice storm, and a flood. The federal government promised to help the city rebuild. But as time wore on, Lake Charles remained a sea of blue tarps and debris. People like Alexis Sheridan were struggling. Alexis, who was seven months pregnant, resorted to sleeping in a tent. In this episode, we spend time with Alexis and her fiancé as they search for somewhere to live before their baby is born.

In one year, Lake Charles, Louisiana, endured two hurricanes, an ice storm and a flood. The federal government promised help. Lake Charles is still waiting. And rebuilding on its own. In Deep, Season 2, begins September 27.

In our final episode of the season, we offer news you can use on lead service lines and bidets, and our producers go head to head in trying to persuade a college student with an avowed lack of interest in water infrastructure to care about it.

Giant engineering projects didn’t solve all of Chicago’s water woes. Intense rainfalls are dumping more water on the city, resulting in more flooding. So what can Chicago do? Some point to green infrastructure.

In the 1990s, lakes and wetlands dried up in Florida’s fast-growing Tampa Bay region. Some attributed the drastic change to drought; others to overpumping of an underground aquifer. A pitched legal battle, known as the Water Wars, played out.

One in five U.S. households isn’t connected to a sewer system. Today we leave the big cities behind and ask: How does rural America manage its water infrastructure? The story highlights a struggle felt across much of the country: In areas without a large tax base, it can be nearly impossible to maintain infrastructure properly.

Flint was a wakeup call. But there are thousands of other towns and cities in the United States that still get water through lead pipes ... and scientists say that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Cities have to stop dumping raw sewage into their rivers, but it’s not a simple task. Chicago’s strategy has been to spend 50 years, building an enormous system of tunnels and reservoirs.

The toilet is just the start of the story for human waste. In this episode, we’ll explore the fascinating world beyond the flush.

When cholera epidemics swept across Europe in the 19th century, nearly everyone figured stinky air was to blame. A London doctor discovered dirty water was the cause. That finding changed human history.

From history to policy to full-on drama, In Deep dives headfirst into the troubling state of the mysterious networks that keep our water clean and coming out of the tap.