How California Could Reinvent the Water Sector

While sophisticated systems of dams, aqueducts and channels have enabled great social and economic growth in the past century, they are reaching the end of its lifespan.

Once again, California has the chance to lead a nationwide paradigm shift. This time, it can be a revolution in water management that better tackles challenges the sector is facing. To do that, California needs to place greater emphasis on a diverse portfolio of innovative solutions such as water reuse, gray water systems, storm and rainwater capture, efficiency and conservation and smart water systems. It should also consider making smart investments in research, development and dissemination of new and innovative solutions that would promote a more holistic and integrated approach to regional water resource management.

Emergency drought funds and bond money can initiate the transformation of California’s water sector by buying down the cost of new technologies and providing initial investment capital to attract private and public funding. However, this is only a one-time funding boost. Making the leap to a more flexible and reliable water system will require a steady and sustainable funding source devoted to innovation.

There needs to be a nationwide realization that the era of undervalued water is over. The water sector needs to fundamentally change the way it values water as a resource by adjusting water rate structure and pricing policies to capture the full cost of services provided to its customers.

The average cost of water in the United States is one of the lowest compared to other developed countries while its per capita water use is among the highest. Underpricing water could often lead to a gap between revenue collected from customers and the total costs to operate water systems, leaving limited options to pursue and implement innovative solutions. The water sector should move away from the price-per-unit model, and decouple their revenue stream in a way that would reflect the marginal cost of consumption and scarcity.

In addition, the establishment of a local or regional water innovation fund could enable utilities to strategically invest in research and development and create new markets. This would reduce the risk and cost of realizing innovative solutions and can be leveraged to attract additional private and public monies. To facilitate this multiplier effect, some of these efforts have to be backed up by policies that can pave the water sector’s path to innovation.

Source: News Deeply 

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Taxonomy

• Drought
• Reuse
• Infrastructure
• Government