Giving Compass' Take:

• Both urban and rural leaders in the U.S have to face challenges of water use and address how best to invest in water infrastructure that upholds efficiency. 

• What are the ways that you are thinking about efficient water use in your community? How can donors work with district leaders to address water use issues? 

• Learn about the state of the global water supply. 

Amidst a rising number of extreme weather events, service fluctuations, and other investment concerns, America’s water infrastructure is at a crossroads. Frequently overlooked and taken for granted, water is not just vital for life, but also provides an economic foundation for millions of businesses, farms, power plants, manufacturers, and households that depend on a reliable supply each day in the United States.

  1. The need for more efficient water use depends on metro areas, where more than 221 billion gallons of water use takes place each day, accounting for 63 percent of the U.S. total.
  2. Metro areas are already leading the charge to more efficient water use—driving almost 90 percent of U.S. declines over the past three decades—but this also introduces greater economic risk.
  3. Several factors—including higher levels of energy and agricultural production, shares of developed land, and population densities—have a significant effect on water use within metro areas and nonmetro areas, revealing certain policy levers that might be available to drive additional water efficiencies.

Leaders in metro and non-metro areas—including utilities and other large water users—are well-positioned to tackle their water infrastructure challenges head-on.

Read the full article on water use by Anthony Fiano at Brookings.