HOUSTON - Large-scale projects long considered essential to easing Houston's flooding woes went to the top of the area's to-do list after Hurricane Harvey.

  

Seven months later, local officials are still looking for funding to undertake plans that include a new reservoir, deeper and wider bayous and a costal barrier system.

  

All of those have fallen victim to a lack of money or political will in the past.

  

Yet local leaders insist this time will be different. They say they're committed to making the projects a reality, even as they wait to find out how much money they might get from the state and federal governments and whether local taxpayers will be willing to help out.

  

One thing giving them hope is that Congress has approved funding for flood-control projects nationwide.