Seven Principles for a Sustainable Water Future

Brian Richter, a global leader in water science and conservation, in his book, ?Chasing Water' formulates seven principles that are beneficial for a sustainable water future. The first one is building a shared vision for your community's water structure. Community engagement is proving to be instrumental in gaining acceptance for proposals to increase water supplies or implement water conservation measures. Secondly, it is important to set limits on total consumptive use of water. Consumptive use refers to the loss of water from a local water system, such as through evaporative losses or export of water out of the local basin, which in turn reduces the water available for other uses or environmental support. The third principle is to allocate specific volumes to each user, then monitor and enforce. Another one is to invest in water conservation to its maximum potential. Enabling trading of water rights or permits is another beneficial principle. The sixth principle is that if too much water is being consumptively used, subsidize reductions in consumption. And the seventh and the last principle is to learn from mistakes or better ideas.