Course: GFM 103 Exterior Environmental Management

Reading and Audio-Visual Assignments

(2/2)
Defining Sustainable Water Features, Water Conservation, and Drought

Water conservation encompasses the policies, strategies and activities to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource to protect the water environment and to meet current and future human demand. Population, household size and growth and affluence all affect how much water is used. Factors such as climate change will increase pressures on natural water resources especially in manufacturing and agricultural irrigation.^[1]^

The goals of water conservation efforts include as follows:

- Sustainability. To ensure availability for future generations, the withdrawal of fresh water from an ecosystem should not exceed its natural replacement rate.
- Energy conservation. Water pumping, delivery and waste water treatment facilities consume a significant amount of energy. In some regions of the world over 15% of total electricity consumption is devoted to water management.

- Habitat conservation. Minimizing human water use helps to preserve fresh water habitats for local wildlife and migrating waterfowl, as well as reducing the need to build new dams and other water diversion infrastructures.