A Look Downstream: Thoughtful Water Infrastructure Planning May Yield Economies of Flexibility [Audio]
Publisher: Wilson Center
Author(s): Benjamin Bosland
Date: 2019
Topics: Disasters, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Three big trends are coming, said Ken Conca, Professor at American University’s School for International Service at a recent Wilson Center event that explored the future of water. “We’ll be storing a lot more water,” he said. “We’ll be recycling a lot more water. And we’ll be thinking much more systematically and foundationally about flood risk.”
To meet the water challenges of the next 30 to 50 years, water storage will become increasingly important to smooth out extremes, to buffer against shortages, and to replace natural storage that we’re losing as snowpack and ice melt begin to vanish in a greenhouse world, he said. Water recycling will become a tool to enhance the water supply and reduce the energy and conservation costs of our current inefficient water system.