Conservation Resources
 

Community Resources
Keep up to date on the latest resources within our community. Read about what our members are up to, learn how to get involved, or browse through our collection of tools, policy statements, and publications. 

Submit developments to the community manager

Community Spotlights
Spotlight On: Community Leader

Doug Bennett

Mr. Bennett is the Conservation Manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). At SNWA, Mr. Bennett has managed the nation’s largest conservation incentive programs and coordinated regional water-efficiency efforts for the Las Vegas, Nevada area.

 

Spotlight On: Utility Program

Denver Water

Denver Water has been promoting conservation since 1936 when they advertised on street trolleys asking customers to help save water. Through their “Use only what you need” campaign, Denver Water helps their customers use water wisely through a wide range of education and rebate and incentive programs.

 

Spotlight On: Conservation Expert

Eva Opitz

Eva M. Opitz is an associate at CDM in Carbondale, Ill., and chair of AWWA's Water Conservation Division. She has been actively involved in water conservation and demand management issues for more than 25 years, providing research and analytical support services for water utilities, regional agencies, and state and federal government agencies. 
EPA WaterSense

A partnership program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, WaterSense seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services.

Rebates may be available in your area
Estimate water saving if installing WaterSense labeled products

Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE)

The Alliance for Water Efficiency is a non-profit organization dedicated to the efficient and sustainable use of water.  AWE serves as an North American advocate for water efficient products and programs, and provides information and assistance on water conservation efforts.  AWE provides a wide range of conservation resources including the following:

AWE's New Home Water Works

Residential water Use, fixtures, and appliances
Conservation initiatives and requirements
Landscape, irrigation, and outdoor water use
Other Conservation Organizations
Tools and Reports

AWWA Public Affairs Council & Water Conservation Division: This guide is our free toolkit designed to help water utilities communicate the value of conservation to consumers, public officials, and other key stakeholders.

AWWA Drip Calculator: Measure or estimate the amount of water wasted due to leaks

Free Water Audit Software, Version 4.2 with new software compiler: Based on the IWA/AWWA methodology, Version 4.2 includes an important new data-grading capability that allows the auditor to rate the overall degree of validity of their water audit data. With the new compiler Users can now aggregate all data into a master table and create charts showing audit components and basic histograms of grading values.
English
French

Validated Water Audit Data for Reliable Benchmarking (2011): The Validated Water Audit Data for Reliable Benchmarking (2011) and 2011 Data:  Water loss findings from 21 North American utilities are presented in this analysis report and audit dataset using the IWA/AWWA Water Loss Methodology and Water Audit Compiler.

AWE's new Home Water Works offers a tool for estimating where water is used in your home. Check out the website here.

EPA has issued Planning for Sustainability: A Handbook for Water and Wastewater Utilities, a handbook that describes a number of steps utilities can undertake to enhance their planning processes to ensure they are sustainably managed using cost-effective life cycle analysis.

Submetering of Building Energy and Water Usage: A new report released by The US National Science and Technology Council describes potential economic and operational benefits through the sub-metering of buidings.

Salinity Management Guide: The Salinity Management Guide website is designed for landscape designers, park managers and anyone else using recycled water for landscape irrigation. The Salinity Management Guide is the only database of its kind that provides information on the effects of water quality on plants, soils and water application systems.

Contact the Conservation Community manager if you'd like to submit a tool or report.
AWWA Water Library

The Water Library offers instant access to your choice of more than 8,000 Journal - American Water Works Association articles published from 1971 to date and the entire collection of more than 3,300 Opflow articles dating from 1976 to date. You can also research and download 150 current AWWA Standards and more than 400 historical Standards. Some recent examples include:

  1. Residential water use trends in North America (Rockaway, Thomas D.; Coomes, Paul A.; Rivard, Joshua; Kornstein, Barry -- Journal - American Water Works Association, Vol. 103, Issue 2, February 2011, Page Range 76-89, 14 pages)
  2. Eco Logic...from The Nature Conservancy -- Where Does Your Water Come From? (McDonald, Robert -- Journal - American Water Works Association, Vol. 103, Issue 10, October 2011, Page Range 20-21, 2 pages)
  3. Field Report -- Getting More Water Efficient in Commercial Kitchens (Tanner, Stephanie; Cannon, Holly -- Journal - American Water Works Association, Vol. 103, Issue 2, February 2011, Page Range 32, 34-36, 4 pages)
  4. Money Matters -- The Pendulum Swing of Revenue Stability and Conservation (Baird, Gregory M. -- Journal - American Water Works Association, Vol. 102, Issue 8, August 2010, Page Range 24-28, 5 pages)
  5. Appropriate Design and Evaluation of Water Use and Conservation Metrics and Benchmarks (Dziegielewski, Benedykt; Kiefer, Jack C. -- Journal - American Water Works Association, Vol. 102, Issue 6, June 2010, Page Range 66-80, 15 pages)
  6. Declining Water Use Presents Challenges, Opportunities (Hunter, Margaret; Donmoyer, Kelly; Chelius, Jim; Naumick, Gary -- Opflow, Vol. 37, Issue 5, May 2011, Page Range 18-20, 3 pages)
  7. High-Desert City Decreases Water Scarcity Problems (Scott, Jerry; Andrade, German -- Opflow, Vol. 37, Issue 4, April 2011, Page Range 24-26, 3 pages)
AWWA Section Conservation Activities

Several AWWA Sections have active groups based around water conservation. Take a look for your area in the list below and get involved in conservation activities in your region:
AWWA Policy Statements
Drinktap.org

AWWA's blog at drinktap.org provides consumer information, water activities for kids, and conservation guidance.