River Network and Pacific Institute Share Water-Energy Tools at River Rally

In a four-hour intensive workshop held in Baltimore, Maryland on the first day of River Network's 10th National River Rally, Heather Cooley from the Pacific Institute joined Bevan Griffiths-Sattenspiel from our Saving Water, Saving Energy program to share a collection of water/energy tools and discuss ways for grassroots groups to further river protection in an era of climate change.

The workshop opened with remarks from Mary Ann Dickinson, the executive director at the Alliance for Water Efficiency. Following Mary Ann's remarks, Bevan and Heather shared information on the watershed-level impacts of climate change, the water implications of alternative energy choices and the energy consumed to move, treat, heat and use water in the United States.

Following the presentations were some activities and an overview of the tools available to communities and individuals seeking to quantify the energy and carbon emissions embedded in their water. To download the presentations, visit our resource library.

The first activity was based on a worksheet developed by River Network that was designed to help participants work through a relatively simply method for estimating the energy embedded in their community’s water and wastewater treatment systems. Participants were provided with scenarios to plug into the worksheets and were then asked questions intended to help them understand how knowledge of the energy intensity of their water system can allow communities to design water conservation programs that optimize energy and carbon emission reductions. The worksheet, called “How to estimate the energy intensity of your water system” can be downloaded from the link to the right.

Heather then walked participants through the Pacific Institute’s Water to Air (WTA) model. The WTA model is designed to give water managers a better understanding of the relationship between water management decisions, energy consumption, and air quality. In the hands of grassroots watershed groups, water managers could be persuaded to use the WTA model in their communities to determine the energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with different water management scenarios.

Next, Heather shared a beta version of the Pacific Institute’s new personal water calculator that allows users to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in their water use. The robust and interactive calculator provides specific water saving recommendations based on the user’s habits. The calculator will be available to the public in within the next few months and will likely prove to be a highly effective tool for educating the public about their water habits and associated carbon emissions.

The workshop ended with a group discussion of various ways to design river protecting strategies—such as water conservation, efficiency, reuse or low impact development programs—that optimize energy savings in different communities.