Recurring flooding and water quality woes that have hampered rivers around Iowa and beyond prompted Cedar Rapids to take a different approach to the Cedar River, which is the city’s primary source of drinking water and essential to core industries.

Rather than only invest in water treatment and flood protection locally — which Cedar Rapids has done — Iowa’s second largest city also sent hundreds of thousands of dollars miles upstream, in hopes of inspiring better conservation practices so the water volume is more manageable and cleaner when it gets here.