The Environment as a Paying Water Customer: Connecting Water Conservation to Environmental Water Needs

Whether due to drought, climate change or increasing demands for water, water supplies are predicted to fall short of demands in many parts of Arizona. Water professionals frequently see pie charts showing agricultural, industrial and municipal water use, but environmental water use is rarely quantified. Yet there are many efforts across the state to preserve or enhance Arizona’s environment. These efforts need funding to bring the environment to the table as a water customer. Building upon its research on Arizona’s environmental enhancement efforts, the University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) has developed the Conserve to Enhance program concept. Funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Conserve to Enhance mechanism links voluntary municipal water conservation with funding water for the environment (Schwarz and Megdal 2008). This innovative mechanism supports environmental enhancement projects by offering municipal water customers the option of donating the money they save through voluntary water conservation actions to selected enhancement projects. A complementary endeavor, the Statewide Environmental Water Needs Assessment, aims to address an additional need for technical coordination of the environmental flows efforts being undertaken in Arizona.