As much as 55,000 gallons of precipitation falls on a 2,000 square foot roof in New England each year, approximately the same amount of water that would be used by three people living in a water-efficient home.

Capturing material that can be diverted from disposal requires the active participation of those who generate waste – the residents and businesses of Metro Boston.   Making it convenient for them to separate and recycle or compost waste is essential to increasing diversion.  This means designing convenient waste management into new and retrofitted buildings, developments, and municipal infrastructure.

Municipal stormwater systems epitomize the concept of “stranded infrastructure.”  Unlike water and sewer systems, there is no dedicated funding stream to ensure adequate maintenance of stormwater systems.  Capital funding (grants, bonds, or developer mitigation) pays for new infrastructure, but constrained tax revenues and competing priorities mean that public works departments are under resourced.  Municipal staff are unable to conduct routine maintenance such as cleaning catch basins, repairing pipe, or removing blockages, resulting in lower pollutant removal an

Old and poorly constructed pipelines, inadequate corrosion protection, poorly maintained valves and mechanical damage are some of the factors contributing to leakage. One effect of water leakage, besides the loss of water resources, is reduced pressure in the supply system. Raising pressures to make up for  leakage losses increases energy consumption,  makes leaking worse, and  adversely impacts the environment. Of the many options available for conserving water, leak detection is a logical first step.

Until a municipality or water district establishes by-laws or other regulations authorizing officials to restrict water usage, the options available in a time of water shortage are only extremes: on one end of the spectrum, officials can request voluntary reduction of water use, and on the other, they can petition for the declaration of a state of emergency by Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.  

The intensity of peak demands has grown in recent years due in part to the proliferation of automatic irrigation systems.  These systems generally involve a series of sprinkler heads connected by piping or hoses, controlled by a central automatic timing device so that they operate on a regular schedule without requiring any human intervention.  

Water audits offer detailed information to targeted classes of users.   An audit includes a customer-specific on-site survey of water usage patterns and specific recommendations for increasing water efficiency.  It may also involved distributing and/or installing water-saving devices.  Audits can be conducted for both indoor and outdoor use for residential and nonresidential customers.

Municipalities can help to reduce water demand for irrigation by integrating landscaping best practices into existing site plan guidelines, zoning bylaws, and subdivision rules and regulations.

All water utilities should establish a water pricing structure that includes the full cost of operating, maintaining, and protecting the water supply system. Water revenues should be kept separate from the municipality’s general fund, in order to prevent cross-subsidies.  

A full cost water pricing structure includes, but is not limited to the following:

Water is both a necessity and a scarce commodity.  This makes it important that water pricing discourages unnecessary and wasteful use while maintaining affordability for essential uses.  Because a significant portion of water use is non-essential, there is  considerable elasticity in demand with respect to price, meaning that if the price of a given quantity of water increases, consumers are encouraged to reduce their costs through reduced discretionary use and more efficient technology.  In the short term, a 10% increase in the cost of water for single family residenti