Protecting the Source: Cost Effective Approaches to Clean and Reliable Water

AP Photo

Risk Management Population growth Land use change Sedimentation Demand growth Land use change Sedimentation Agricultural impoundments & withdrawals Irrigation Climate change Water managers have lots of issues to plan for and worry about…. Seventy five years ago who would have thought that thousands of acres of marginal farmland would revert/convert to forestland and slow sedimentation rates in reservoirs … Twenty years ago who would have thought that the textile & furniture industry would shrink… Ten years ago who would have thought that Apple, Google, Facebook and others would locate server farms in the SE US…

Watershed Services Water purification Surface flow regulation Erosion control Flood reduction Shade for algae & temperature control & Many more Investing in and protecting watershed lands is one strategy to manage risks and to protect water quality & quantity. According to the US Forest Service: “Healthy forests and wetland systems provide a host of watershed services, including water purification, ground water and surface flow regulation, erosion control, and streambank stabilization. The importance of these watershed services will only increase as water quality becomes a critical issue around the globe. Their financial value becomes particularly apparent when the costs of protecting an ecosystem for improved water quality are compared with investments in new or improved infrastructure, such as purification plants and flood control structures – in many cases it is often cheaper and more efficient to invest in ecosystem management and protection. Innovative market-based mechanisms for watershed services include self-organized private payments, public payments or incentives, and trading schemes.” Also according to the US Forest Service: “Ecosystem Services are commonly defined as benefits people obtain from ecosystems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment – a four-year United Nations assessment of the condition and trends of the world’s ecosystems - categorizes ecosystem services as: Provisioning Services or the provision of food, fresh water, fuel, fiber, and other goods; Regulating Services such as climate, water, and disease regulation as well as pollination; Supporting Services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling; and Cultural Services such as educational, aesthetic, and cultural heritage values as well as recreation and tourism. As population, income, and consumption levels increase, humans put more and more pressure on the natural environment to deliver these benefits. The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, prepared by a group of over 1300 international experts, found that 60 percent of ecosystem services assessed globally are either degraded or being used unsustainably. Seventy percent of the regulating and cultural services evaluated in the assessment are in decline. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scientists predicted that ecosystem degradation could grow significantly worse in the first half of the 21st century, with important consequences to human well-being. Climate change, pollution, over-exploitation, and land-use change are some of the drivers of ecosystem loss, as well as resource challenges associated with globalization and urbanization. Land use change is an immediate issue in the United States. Today, the Nation is experiencing a loss of open space and a decline in forest health and biodiversity, particularly on private lands. Approximately 57% of all forestland in the United States, or 429 million acres, is privately owned. Non-industrial interests – families, organizations, and communities that own the land for the aesthetics and uses that forests provide or for income generated from the sale of forest products and services - own 85% of our private lands. Recent trends in parcelization and divestiture of private lands in the United States suggest that private landowners are commonly under economic pressures to sell their forest holdings. Rising property values, tax burdens, and global market competition are some of the factors that motivate landowners to sell their lands, often for development uses. The loss of healthy forests directly affects forest landowners, rural communities, and the economy. As private lands are developed, we also lose the life-supporting ecosystem services that forests provide.” See http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystems/watersheds.html and http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices Photo of Granite Falls water intake on Lake Rhodhiss by DWQ

AWWA Webinar 2014 adapted from USDA

World Resources Institute (2012) From WRI report p. 55 World Resources Institute (2012)

Cost Effective Greater Forest Cover, Lower Water Treatment Costs For every 10% > in forest cover, treatment and chemical costs decreased by 20% 2002 study by TPL and American Water Works Association of 27 water suppliers.

Water Utilities & Watershed Protection Salt Lake – 1885 - 24,000 acres Seattle Utilities – 1899 - 1962 - 99,000 acres Austin Water – 1996 - 39,000 acres Salt Lake City watershed protection begun in 1885. City owns 24,000+ acres. Utility customers pay 50 cents/month base fee for watershed purchases and management. Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake City and Sandy (MWDSLS), a water wholesaler, manages a similar program. Seattle owns 90,638 acres of the Cedar River watershed and runs the Cedar River Watershed Institute. The Cedar River Watershed Cooperative Agreement of 1962 facilitated land swaps and purchases to protect the watershed. It also owns 8400 acres of the S Fork of the 12,500 acre Tolt River watershed (100 MGD). US Forest Service owns the remainder. Austin began acquiring watershed lands in 1996. Upper Neuse River watershed/revenueshed in NC provides water supplies to over half of the population of the Research Triangle Park region, including Durham & Raleigh. The watershed includes Falls Lake (Raleigh), Lake Michie & Little River (Durham), Lake Holt (Butner), Lake Rogers (formerly Creedmoor), and 2 small Hillsborough reservoirs. Raleigh utility customers pay 1 cent/100 gallons/month to help finance the Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative (UNCWI); Durham customers pay 1 cent/1 ccf (748 gallons)/month.

Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative Mission: Partnership effort to prioritize and, through voluntary actions, protect those lands most critical to the long term safety and health of all drinking water supplies for the communities in the Upper Neuse River Basin. Since December 2005, local land trusts have worked with partners to protect land upstream of Falls Lake and the Basin’s eight other water supply reservoirs, through VOLUNTARY conservation of the most important parcels of land.

Accomplishments 81 Properties conserved 73 Miles of stream buffered 7,042 Acres protected $70.4 M Value of Property $20.3 M Value donated $13:$1 Leverage $1.7 M Grant leveraged - 6033 Acres benefitted - 33 Miles of stream benefitted Since December 2005, the Upper Neuse project has conserved: 81 properties 38 by land trusts with Raleigh/UNCWI funds 3 by local governments with Raleigh/UNCWI funds 40 by land trusts without Raleigh/UNCWI funds Over 73 miles of streamside buffer, totaling 7,042 acres valued at $70.4M. Land trusts have worked with landowners to bring over $20M in donated value to the table, greatly reducing the cost to the city and other partners for conserving these sites. In 2013, we completed work on a 3-year, $1.7 M grant from US Endowment for Forestry and Communities. Working with forest landowners in the Basin we protected or helped improve management practices on over 6000 acres impacting over 33 miles of stream. Improving land management complements our land protection work, improving water quality in addition to preventing further degradation Have conserved about 2.8% of the priority lands identified in the Conservation Plan.

Pollutants Avoided Water Quality Benefits Estimation Tool Quantify one benefit of land protection Estimate nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment prevented from entering water Raleigh/Upper Neuse Projects 3,361 acres evaluated If developed without BMPs 6 x more nitrogen/year 6 x more phosphorous/year 4 x more sediment/year Tool developed using the Upper Neuse Site Evaluation Tool developed by TetraTech in 2005, which is before the Falls Lake Rules were adopted. The rules require that new developments install best management practices (BMPs) to meet 40% reduction in nitrogen and 77% reduction in phosphorous. Partners are working to take the Rules into account in our estimates of water quality benefits.

Gray and Green Identifying the optimal mix of Gray and Green Infrastructure Gray – e.g. reservoir management, new treatment plants, reclaimed water use Green – e.g. watershed protection, land management, rain gardens Leads to cost-effective approach that can maximize community benefits – clean water supply, flood control, aesthetics, air quality

Range of Funding Mechanisms On-bill financing Off-bill private financing Trading Targeted use of incentive payment programs

Partnership Opportunities Conservation groups Water utilities Other water users Local planners Business community Resource managers