The Water Conservation Act:

• Encourages water conservation in our state.
• Improves water and wastewater transportation, treatment, and storage.
• Reduces the costs associated with new growth, thereby saving taxpayers money.
• Protects natural resources and ecosystems that depend on water.

• Requires public water systems serving at least 10,000 individuals and sewage treatment plants discharging at least 500,000 gallons per day to implement or demonstrate existing implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for improving water conservation and water use efficiency when requesting:
  • a new, renewed or expanded water appropriation;
  • a new, renewed or expanded discharge permit; or
  • state financial assistance. 
     
• Directs the state department charged with environmental oversight to develop guidelines for public water systems and sewage treatment plants regarding the types, costs and benefits of BMPs that may be implemented under this bill. 

Water Conservation is Important Because:

• Customers pay less for water, and the water utility needs less revenue to provide its service.
• Increasing population and economic operations mean more lawns, showers, car washes, restaurants, washing machines, and swimming pools.  Increasing efficiency ensures that precious and increasingly scarce water isn’t lost needlessly.
• Investments in a community's water and wastewater infrastructure are critically important and often expensive.  Water conservation can extend the capacity of existing facilities and moderate the cost of future additions.
• The time to prepare for water scarcity is when infrastructure changes are already being planned.  Protecting water resources now, will ease current and future difficulties from droughts.

This summary relies in large part on information provided by the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, 2002 Environmental Agenda, available at www.mdlcv.org.