Based on recent forecast, fresh water supply will get tighter and tighter in the future, in the world and particularly in the United States. So it is not an option to remain on the sideline while the situation deteriorates as this will affect all of us one way or the other.
Some States are making good progress to address this problem and implement legislation that tackle the issue. In this regard Washington’s Dept. of Health Rule on Water Efficiency went into effect on January 22, 2007. It affects all municipal water suppliers with 15 connections or more. The Partnership for Water Conservation offers workshops every year to help utilities implement the Rule. For more information contact us or visit our calendar.
For more information on the Municipal Water Law and the Water Efficiency Rule we’ve provided a link to the Dept. of Health.
The Partnership is dedicated to providing services that advance our mission of increasing water conservation in the Central Puget Sound Region. We also want to add value to each membership classification and provide a funding resource for the Partnership. We are currently evaluating and prioritizing services. We differentiate between services and programs, defining services as being activities that require a fee-for-service. Programs may or may not require a fee.
We anticipate that the prioritizing of services will be an ongoing process that will need to be revised and refined as the Partnership evolves and conservation issues change within our service area. It depends on the financing options we find. Our Programs & Services Committee is charged with overseeing this process.
Here is a sampling of services there are most urgently needed:
• Manage rebate programs for small utilities
• Perform, or contract to perform, water audits
• Provide technical expertise on water conservation programs, planning and strategies
• Research and develop effective water conservation tools and education materials
• Research water conservation issues
• Evaluate innovative conservation ideas
• Control the level of fluoride for health
• Educate utility personnel on changing conservation rules
Currently the Services Committee from the Government are focusing on four service areas:
• Services to the Business & Commercial Sector
• Conservation Specialist Services
• Services Related to a Municipal Water Law Website
• Services Associated with Implementation of the Municipal Water Law
The government officials will develop and manage a website to allow public notice, access and response to the goal setting and performance reporting elements of the Municipal Water law. Operation of the website and postings would be on a fee-for-service basis. We have already secured website names for that purpose. The website would have the following features:
• Recognition of and cross linkage to the PWC website
• Posting of notice of utility conservation goal setting notice
• Posting of conservation goal setting background materials, including information such as: times and places for utility goal setting meetings; and links to, or locations of, utility-developed reference and background materials available as part of the goal setting process. Service could vary from a link to a utility website, to publication of notice only, to providing information on the MWL website.
• Posting of conservation performance reporting activities associated with the MWL. This again could vary from posting a link, to providing basic information on the site, to more complex materials.
• An electronic linkage to provide comments on goal setting or performance reporting directly to the utility. As envisioned this would be an enhancement from the basic notice posting and would be provided at an additional fee.