Q. Our state has plenty of water, why should we care about water conservation?

A. Water conservation is important for every part of the country, not just the arid states in the West.  Recently, even portions of the East are experiencing severe drought. As water districts experience population growth it is essential to conserve water for neighboring towns, farms, and wildlife. Districts can no longer ignore the fact that even where water is abundant, it takes costly infrastructure to collect, treat, and distribute safe drinking water. Urban water use also requires costly infrastructure for collecting and treating the resulting wastewater.  A large portion of this infrastructure cost is influenced by the volume of water or wastewater that must be pumped, treated, and distributed.

Q. Won’t this bill just end up costing water users a lot of wasted money?

A. No. Municipalities around the country from Seattle and Los Angeles to Boston have seen dramatic cost savings from focusing on and improving conservation practices. During drought conditions, states cannot afford not to conserve, but it takes planning. Taking steps that will permanently improve water efficiency today helps communities lower their infrastructure costs in the future. Water efficiency (and the resulting dollar efficiency) also helps states meet environmental goals for improved water quality and safe drinking water by stretching limited amounts of funds to assist more communities, more quickly.

Q. Water users have enough to worry about right now. Won’t this just add one more headache for water managers to have to deal with?

A. No. This legislation would only affect those applying for new or expanded permits. This means that they are already focusing on planning, and it is important that the state help them do that well so there will be enough affordable water for everyone.