Keeping It Local

(Originally posted on waterefficiency.net)

By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency

A few weeks back, I asked, “What’s your standard?”. In exploring the vagaries of water use, water needs, and water waste, I discussed the challenges inherent in any attempt to standardize efficiency measurements. In particular, any attempt to create a cohesive measurement system (and we all know, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure”), must depend on verifiable data, clear benchmarks, and a set of agreed upon metrics. Additionally, if the point of measuring is to encourage conservation, then any system must also include incentives to encourage water efficiency.
One of the greatest challenges when it comes to measuring and monitoring water use involves accounting for regional differences. What might be effective in one community could be counterproductive in another. In fact, it could be that standards and measurements will ultimately have to be tailored to deal with the unique properties of each watershed.
An example of the looming showdown between national protocols and local controls is already taking shape in California. Last month, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the state of California is well within its rights to create its own set of water conservation standards for clothes washing machines. In its decision, the Court overturned a US DOE decision to bar California from establishing its own water efficiency. In Judge William Canby’s decision, the judge indicated that improving efficiency was essential given the state’s current water crisis.
So what do you think? Is the DOE fighting the wrong fight here? Are states better able to handle their own resources? And if so, how do we account for resources that cross state lines?
Click here for more on the 9th District’s decision.