How Effective is Voluntary Conservation

On July 26, 2024, the Drought Coordination Committee of the Metropolitan Council of Governments declared a Drought Watch calling for voluntary water conservation measures by residents of the DC Metropolitan region. So, I took a look at the regional Potomac River water use as reported to the ICPRB both before and after voluntary conservation measures were in place.

The Saturday and Thursday before the declaration of a drought watch the reported water use was as follows:

Washington metropolitan area Potomac River withdrawals and discharges (2024-07-13):
Fairfax Water Corbalis withdrawal - Potomac: 100 MGD
WSSC Water Potomac withdrawal: 130 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Great Falls: 0 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Little Falls: 126 MGD
Loudoun Water withdrawal: 12 MGD
Loudoun Water Broad Run discharge: 6 MGD
Total Potomac withdrawal: 367 MGD
Total net Potomac withdrawal: 361 MGD

Washington metropolitan area Potomac River withdrawals and discharges (2024-07-18):
Fairfax Water Corbalis withdrawal - Potomac: 106 MGD
WSSC Water Potomac withdrawal: 130 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Great Falls: 0 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Little Falls: 129 MGD
Loudoun Water withdrawal: 13 MGD
Loudoun Water Broad Run discharge: 6 MGD
Total Potomac withdrawal: 378 MGD
Total net Potomac withdrawal: 371 MGD

After the drought watch declaration and the implementation of voluntary water conservation measures the water use reported to the ICPRB was as follows:

Washington metropolitan area Potomac River withdrawals and discharges (2024-07-27):
Fairfax Water Corbalis withdrawal - Potomac: 122 MGD
WSSC Water Potomac withdrawal: 142 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Great Falls: 95 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Little Falls: 63 MGD
Loudoun Water withdrawal: 13 MGD
Loudoun Water Broad Run discharge: 5 MGD
Total Potomac withdrawal: 434 MGD
Total net Potomac withdrawal: 429 MGD

 Washington metropolitan area Potomac River withdrawals and discharges (2024-08-01):

Fairfax Water Corbalis withdrawal - Potomac: 119 MGD
WSSC Water Potomac withdrawal: 134 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Great Falls: 114 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Little Falls: 46 MGD
Loudoun Water withdrawal: 13 MGD
Loudoun Water Broad Run discharge: 5 MGD
Total Potomac withdrawal: 426 MGD
Total net Potomac withdrawal: 422 MGD

So, after the implementation of voluntary water conservation measures, water use increased by 14%-19%. That’s a fail. I am currently reading an excellent book by Tim Smedley, The Last Drop. I would like to quote and paraphrase parts of his introduction here:

“Freshwater scarcity, once considered a local issue, is increasingly a global risk… (Since 2012) the World Economic Forum has included water crisis as on of the top-five  risks to the global economy. Half of the global population…live in areas with severe water scarcity for at east one month a year, while half a billion people face severe water scarcity all year round. Global water demand has increased by 600% over the past one hundred years, while the available fresh water has fallen by 22% over the last twenty.”

Only 2.5% of the water on earth is fresh water. The water on earth is finite. Every drop on earth has been here since the beginning of time, constantly recycled again and again. The  amount of water churning around in our water cycle remains the same. “Climate change is water change; the climate crisis is water crisis…the bottom line is, there is a huge increase in the demand for water. We have a growing population, growing economies, more urban populations. The OECD predict that, if these trends continue, we will need 50% more water in 2050 than twenty years ago. And of course, that is impossible, because water is a finite resource.”

In 2018 when the ICPRB completed the most recent Potomac Basin Comprehensive Water Resources Plan.  A key finding of the planning process was that a complete picture of human water uses in the basin may be lacking. The question was raised whether state water use databases (compiled based on water use reports required under state law) fully or sufficiently capture water use in the major watersheds of the basin. They determined therewere significant gaps and unreported water uses can cumulatively comprise a substantialportion of the overall water use. If left unaccounted for, the system is vulnerable to human demand exceeding supplies, with attendant detrimental effects to aquatic habitats and organisms, especially given the exacerbating effects of climate change on the variability of water supplies.

Not only can our region not respond to voluntary conservation in the major water utiity companies, we have failed to account for and develop a method of contacting the “unreported users” of water. The long range weather forecast is for above average rain in August that should alleviate the immediate pressure on our water supply, but we need to prepare for the future and when the rain fails to come for more than a month.