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Smart Water and Urban Water Use
Western Resource Advocates’ (WRA) Smart Water project works to break the link between population growth and the demand for new dams and water diversions that damage the West’s precious river resources.
Water use has always been a contentious issue in the West. Historically, farmers, miners, and cities competed for this scarce resource, but often united to support dams and trans-basin diversions with little regard for impacts to the environment. Today, the competition is even more intense. The West’s urban areas are growing rapidly. Seven million new residents are expected to arrive in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah in the next 25 years —creating ever greater demands for water.
WRA’s Smart Water project helps cities develop solutions such as new water rates, rebates for efficient landscaping and water appliances, and water re-use. As more cities implement conservation and water supply alternatives we can avoid sacrificing rivers like the Gunnison, Rio Grande, Bear, and Colorado.
History of Success: In 2004, WRA released its 180-page Smart Water report providing an analysis of how cities compared on their conservation programs, along with recommendations for moving forward. Working with colleagues, we have had a number of successes
Research and Education:
- We published Water in the Urban Southwest: An Updated Analysis of Albuquerque, Tucson, and Las Vegas, analyzing per capita water use and the success of conservation programs in these three communities. The report led to an increasingly active role for WRA in helping shape policy.
- We published Urban Water on the Wasatch Front: Past, Present, and Future, a report examining water use in northern Utah and ways to meet future demand.
- In Colorado, joined by utility conservation directors and local governments, we co-hosted ten workshops to educate water utilities on water efficiency tools.
- In the next three months, we will publish three new reports: (1) on the cost-effectiveness of conservation programs; (2) a joint report with The Pacific Institute on possible future conservation savings by Las Vegas; and (3) the Front Range Water Meter—evaluating conservation programs, water rates, city ordinances, and other criteria in thirteen Front Range Colorado cities.
Legislation:
- We were instrumental in the enactment of legislation that will provide over $3 million for cities in Colorado to plan and implement conservation programs.
- We drafted, testified for, and achieved passage of legislation in Nevada that adds requirements for conservation-orientated rate structures for growing cities.
Policy Implementation:
- We convinced Denver Water (provider to 1.2 million customers) to change its water rate structure to send a much more effective conservation price signal.
- We worked with the Town of Erie, Colorado, to dramatically improve the conservation savings goals in its new conservation plan.
- Similarly, we assisted Denver Water, Colorado Springs, Aurora, and Boulder in upgrading their conservation plans and rate structures.
- We continued working closely with Ogden, Utah, on a new rate structure that will raise revenue while also decreasing water demand.
- We provided a wide range of water-wise city ordinance options to Provo, Utah.
- We presented conservation ideas to Kennecott Lands, a group proposing new housing for nearly 500,000 new residents south and west of Salt Lake City.
- As part of the Water Adaptation Group of Colorado’s Climate Action Panel, we authored sections of a report that recommends to Governor Ritter how state agencies, water utilities, and citizens can address the water-related effects of climate change.
Check back regularly for updates.
To read the Smart Water report, click here.
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