At the Dreamy Draw Recreation Area here, north of downtown, crews are installing a 66-inch water pipeline – spanning about nine miles – by lowering each individual section into a deep trench. Once the project is complete, the city will be able to funnel clean drinking water to more than 400,000 residents on the other side of the sprawling metropolis, as water becomes more limited due to the historic decline of the Colorado River."This is one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city," said Dave Hondula, director of the Phoenix Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, as he walked with a journalist in Edison Park recently. "We're seeing so much increased attention to this hazard that really has significant public health effects."One of those public health effects is heat-related deaths. In Maricopa County, where Phoenix is the largest city, heat-related deaths increased more than 400% over the past eight years – a staggering increase that leaders fear will only grow as the climate changes. Here in the Valley of the Sun, summer doesn’t wait for the solstice; the unofficial start of summer begins on May 1. This year, the city broke a heat record in early June, when the temperature hit 114 degrees."This is a significant challenge, maybe the clearest challenge that the climate crisis confronts us," Hondula said in an interview. "This is perhaps the clearest climate story."Climate LifelinePhoenix’s drought pipeline is one of hundreds of climate-related projects communities across the country told the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit about in response to a survey the journalists sent earlier this year. When asked whether communities would need additional funding to mitigate a changing climate and increasingly severe weather, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would need a substantial monetary lifeline to tackle climate issues. Of those, almost half said they'd need at least $50 million to begin climate projects, nearly a third said they’d need more than $100 million, and one in 10 say they will need at least $1 billion. Full survey results here.Climate SolutionIn the panhandle of Texas, some water districts spend close to $250,000 annually on cloud seeding. Airborne meteorologists use flares to release silver iodide smoke into thunderstorms to give water droplets a nudge to fall from the sky and onto the crops. "We had too much of a dust bowl nearly one hundred years ago, and we don't want to see history repeat itself," explained George Bomar, who leads the Texas Weather Modification Association. "As global warming continues to proceed, we're going to see more extremes." The cloud-seeding efforts have been drying up in some parts ofTexas – mainly due to money – but expanding across the West, now in at least eight states, according to the North American Weather Modification Council, with a 16th project about to launch in California.In Santa Maria, Calif., weather experts use flare trees to encourage rainfall. Overall, they’ve seen a 10% to 20% increase in precipitation, said Garrett Cammans, president of North American Weather Consultants, which has a contract for the program in that region. "We're not changing the environment. We're just making it a little bit more efficient," Cammans said.Searching for water, from the skies to the soil, is now becoming more urgent as the climate changes. "We don't make it rain. We just tend to make it rain more," added Matthew Scrudato, a senior hydrologist for Santa Barbara County. "We're capturing more water for the benefit of the community."Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko, Tamika Cody, Greg Compton, Jimmy Celaya, John Osterhaut, Mark Fryklund, Allison Novello and Jeannie Kopstein contributed to this report. Help us cover a changing climate for our ‘Forecasting Our Future’ series. If you know of innovative projects or controversial issues in your community, send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.'Forecasting Our Future' Full National Investigative Unit CoverageSurvey: Most concerned about future extreme weather, only half taking stepsWhy a 1-foot rise in sea level has a bigger impact than you thinkInside America's 'forest census' Spurred by Climate Urgency, Communities Begin Searching for Water Virtual reality increasingly used to convey climate urgencyAll 'Forecasting Our Future' special reports