Turning the Tide: The Digital Future of Water Management

“California Water Wars” might sound like a new reality show for 2023, but in fact, this conflict took place more than 100 years ago, when William Mulholland built the California aqueduct and diverted water from the Owens Valley straight to Los Angeles, leaving the eastern region of the state barren. The unscrupulous tactics—which inspired the 1974 film masterpiece  Chinatown —shined a harsh light on the ongoing need for better water management. The industry is still grappling with challenges that are forcing water organizations, cities, states, and governments to find new ways to protect and manage the planet’s most critical resource. 

Every day, billions of gallons of water are wasted. With climate change affecting weather patterns and severity, an exploding population, pollution, and inequitable access to safe water, there is an urgent need for more sustainable water resources management.

What will it take? The practical list is long: new policies, investing in infrastructure, and a digital approach to water management that uses data to guide action. But sustainable water management is also a mindset. The industry can set regulations, but there must be buy-in from the public, which needs to understand the urgency of the situation to create a sustainable future. 

The California Aqueduct diverts water hundreds of miles from the arid Owens Valley basin to Los Angeles.

What Is Water Management?

Water management is the process, planning, oversight, and evaluation of collecting water from a source; diverting, cleaning, and getting it to an end user; removing the water after it is used; treating it; and disposing of or recycling it. It entails securing the rights to the water, building the infrastructure, and creating the policies that govern water quality and quantity.

Humans use water for three primary purposes:

1. Agriculture, 70%

2. Industrial, 19%

3. Domestic, 11%

Water management includes:

• Providing drinking water from source to tap
• Ensuring water quality is safe and contaminant-free
• Managing the infrastructure involved in water catchment, transport, and cleaning
• Removing wastewater from communities   
• Diverting water from sources (lakes, reservoirs, groundwater, and so forth) to reach communities
• Overseeing stormwater management and flood control 

Water is a shared resource, but there are 148,000 different public water systems managing it across the United States. And in many areas, different agencies manage the different uses: Stormwater is handled by one entity and drinking water by another. To align the industry on best management practices, the US Water Alliance (USWA) created One Water. This initiative takes a holistic approach to water management, which the USWA laid out in seven steps to coordinate stakeholders across the country:

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• Digital Media