Dan Rodricks: Back River failures undermine growing acceptance of the high cost of a high quality of life

The 400,000-plus customers of Baltimore’s municipal water system — households that have paid higher and higher fees over the last 20 years for the delivery of tap water and the treatment of sewage — should be outraged over the repeated failures of the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, prompting the state to seize control of it. But, before I get into that stinking mess, a little perspective on the cost of stuff.