So I know about water treatment because I did acoustics for ten years. And since water treatment tends to stink, people tend to hate it. And since it's nigh unto impossible to regulate stink, people tend to find new ways to oppose them. And since treatment plants are also loud and since loud is stupid easy to regulate, acoustical consultants end up doing a lot of work with wastewater treatment plants.

For example, the article talks about what a hard time the Pacific Northwest is having getting new wastewater treatment plants and infrastructure. As someone who's in the project pictures for Brightwater, I kinda gotta call bullshit. After all, that's two billion dollars worth of wastewater treatment, built on top of former junkyards.

Isn't it important enough for the city to overcome some locals? I get that there are a lot of local factors at play here, but I mean, if we can do it like this... there must be a way.

Dutch civil hierarchy isn't American civil hierarchy. Europe, post-war, tends to have a lot more top-down organization (at least, from my understanding). On the other hand, American civil organization is inverted: local rules matter more than municipal rules matter more than state rules and the most stringent rules win. Also keep in mind that localities band together over stuff like this to keep the outsiders out: Part of my gig with Brightwater was taking measurements of existing sites to evaluate environmental impact. And at one locality that really didn't want a 54MGD wastewater treatment plant, I literally had a gun pulled on me by the local cops to get me to leave. As in, they wouldn't let me take my state-mandated measurements and demonstrated their reticence by pointing lethal weaponry at me.

(I kept my "service above and beyond the call" plaque for a while after that gig ended)

Sidenote: holy balls y'all use a shitload of water. The average daily consumption in America is 340L (90 gallons) per capita. Even the rainiest state, Louisiana, still uses 300L (80 gallons) per capita. Average Dutch person uses 140L (33 gallons) per day...

I'm not doubting your figures, but I would like to know where you sourced them. There's a discussion there, too. I mean, water means agriculture. What does the US produce? Corn, potatoes, wheat and soy. What does the Netherlands produce? Tulips.

I do find it ridiculous that you can't install cisterns. Are rainwater barrels illegal, too?

Santa Fe, NM: Rain barrels mandatory.

Colorado, 3 hours north: Rain barrels illegal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_tank#Water_supply_augmentation

Los Angeles pulled out the rails when Goodyear and Standard Oil wanted to sell cars, and made rain barrels and catchment illegal when they dug the canal. Chinatown in a nutshell.

Before the Rainwater Capture Act of 2012, residents could only collect rainwater if they received a permit from the SWRCB. Under the California Water Code Section 1200, residents and businesses who did not receive a permit could be penalized for misusing and illegally collecting water that legally belongs to the state.

http://www.raingutterprosinc.com/los-angeles-water-harvesting-laws