Pacific Institute

Guide for Developing Onsite Water Systems to Support Regional Water Resilience

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Overview

Urban communities across the country are facing growing water challenges, including water scarcity, flooding, pollution, aging infrastructure, and more. These challenges present risks, but they also present an opportunity to rethink how we manage water, including adopting circular approaches in new developments that reduce their water footprint and improve urban water resilience. Onsite water systems, for example, collect, treat, and reuse water from onsite sources, such as wastewater, rainwater, and stormwater, for non-potable water uses like toilet flushing, outdoor irrigation, and cooling.

Onsite water systems have the potential to provide multiple benefits for a site, water and wastewater systems, communities, and ecosystems. For private sector developers, onsite systems can help reduce water scarcity risks, provide resilience to water supply disruptions, and support corporate water stewardship goals. For communities, onsite water systems can help enhance water supply reliability, improve water quality, reduce localized flooding, and increase urban green space.

This guide helps site developers consider how water systems can be planned, designed, and operated to provide multiple benefits and promote four desired outcomes: advancing water resilience, supporting equity, supporting the environment, and protecting public health. For each of these outcomes, the guide provides sample questions to consider, stakeholders to engage, resources to examine, and analyses to perform. The guide also offers insights on how the realization and magnitude of benefits can vary with the type of system, scale of adoption, and other context-specific factors.

December 9, 2022December 12, 2022

Water Advances on Global Climate Agenda at COP27

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Water Advances on Global Climate Agenda at COP27
Pacific Institute featured at COP for water resilience thought leadership, innovative tools

Dr. Amanda Bielawski & Jason Morrison

Key takeaways:

For the first time, water was visible in the final UN Climate Summit COP declaration.
Water solutions play a pivotal role in both climate mitigation and adaptation, with attention moving more toward adaptation at COP27.
The transformative change and radical collaboration needed are at the heart of the Pacific Institute’s work advancing water resilience.

As the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) closed in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the science was grim. At the same time, water management’s role in climate mitigation and adaptation—the heart of the Pacific Institute’s work—was more widely recognized than ever before.

Photo: UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell shared opening remarks at COP27. Photo credit: UN Climate Change (COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh to Focus on Delivering on the Promises of Paris | UNFCCC)

Climate mitigation progress falls short, placing more emphasis on adaptation

COP27 closed with the stark recognition there may be no feasible path to reach the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree goal. New research finds the last eight years are projected to be the warmest eight on record. Climate mitigation efforts have simply not progressed quickly enough—with devastating impacts felt primarily through the water cycle in the form of intensifying flooding and drought.

“United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres opened COP27 by acknowledging the world is approaching a tipping point—and urging a focus on rapid implementation of solutions: “The good news is that we know what to do and we have the financial and technological tools to get the job done . . . We need all hands on deck for faster, bolder climate action.”  

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the opening of the Climate Implementation Summit at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. UNFCCC/Kiara Worth

Water breaks new COP barriers

While the water agenda rose in prominence during COP26 last year in Glasgow, it broke through new barriers this year at COP27. Visible in both the Blue Zone and Green Zone, water was recognized during negotiations as a powerful solution to address climate change both through mitigation and adaptation.

Notably, this is the first time the final COP declaration directly acknowledged the critical role of water and its many co-benefits:

“. . . Recognizing the critical role of protecting, conserving and restoring water systems and water-related ecosystems in delivering climate adaptation benefits and co-benefits, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards . . .”

The final declaration also urged Parties to include water in adaptation plans:

“. . . Emphasizes the importance of protecting, conserving and restoring water and water related ecosystems, including river basins, aquifers and lakes, and urges Parties to further integrate water into adaptation efforts . . .”

Now in its second year, the Water and Climate Pavilion united more than 40 international organizations, as well as Indigenous leaders, youth, and academics—to advance water on the climate agenda.

The Pacific Institute played a key role. Across more than a dozen sessions, many of them attended remotely, Pacific Institute colleagues shared water resilience thought leadership and innovative tools to build water resilience.

Photo: Jason Morrison, Pacific Institute President and Head of the CEO Water Mandate, (left) pictured with Vania Paccagnan of CDP (right), discusses the role of corporate action to build water resilience at COP27.

If climate is the shark, water is the teeth

To many, COP27 may feel like a far-off meeting. But, for millions of people around the world, decisions made during COP27—and decisions made by the public and private sector leaders every day of the year—will directly impact their personal lives and livelihoods. This is especially true through human interactions with water. As has been stated, “If climate is the shark, water is the teeth.”

A growing swell of research—some of it conducted over the past 30-plus years by the Pacific Institute—is unpacking the specific relationships between climate change and the water cycle. The science is clear. Climate change is intensifying water-related disasters, such as floods and droughts, which have affected millions and cost billions this year alone.

Photo 1: Aerial view of summer 2022 floods in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan in Pakistan. Photo credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe. Photo 2: Lake Powel on August 16, 2017, (left) and on August 6, 2022 (right). Photo credit: NASA. Photo 3: © UNICEF/Kate Holt; Somali women and children stand outside temporary tents in the Dagahaley refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border. 

The evidence is visible before us:

- Record-setting flooding in Pakistan earlier this year left one-third of the country submerged. An estimated 7.9 million people were displaced, while 1,700 died.
- On the other end of the water extreme, in the US West, the current 22-year megadrought is projected to be the driest period in 1,200 years. Lake Powell, the second-largest water-storage reservoir in the United States and a major source of water for millions, was photographed by NASA in August at its lowest level since the mid-1960s.
- Meanwhile, Oxfam warned in October that historic drought in East Africa is likely to kill one person every 36 seconds through the end of 2022.

Climate change is projected to increase the severity and frequency of these sorts of droughts and floods even further into the future, compounding an already concerning water crisis.

Transformation to water resilience—the heart of the Pacific Institute’s work

During the run-up to COP27, Christiana Figueres, who led the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when the 2015 Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21, called for a new mindset and radical collaboration across sectors. Figueres wrote: “One company or one government alone cannot make the kind of difference we need; the transformations must be systemic and exponential, and delivered with justice in mind.”

This type of transformative change and radical collaboration are at the heart of the Pacific Institute’s work.

In 2019, the Pacific Institute announced an organizational goal to “catalyze the transformation to water resilience in the face of climate change” by 2030. This forward-looking goal builds on more than 30 years of thought leadership on climate-water connections. Long before this connection was recognized in mainstream policy discussions, the Pacific Institute conducted early research, made early warnings, and proposed some of the earliest solutions.

During the early 1990s, climate-water assessments were conducted both domestically and internationally—from the Bay Area of California to the Nile River Basin in Africa. In 1990, the Pacific Institute conducted one of the earliest assessments of sea-level rise impacts for the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2009, this analysis was expanded to cover the entire California coast, becoming a significant lever for policy change.

Photo: Area of San Francisco Bay Threatened by a 1-meter Sea-Level Rise: Southern Portion. From 1990 Pacific Institute report.

In advance of COP26 in Glasgow, the Pacific Institute launched its Water Resilience Issue Brief, calling on decisionmakers across the private and public sectors to rapidly scale solutions. Many solutions stem from what our colleague, Dr. Peter Gleick, Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of the Pacific Institute, describes as the “soft path” for water. This more-sustainable framework calls for decentralized infrastructure, innovative and efficient use of technology, the protection of ecosystems, and reversing the policy inertia historically focused on endlessly increasing water supplies. Some of the specific solutions include integrating nature-based solutions (NBS), which offer multiple co-benefits, as well as increasing inclusion of water efficiency and reuse approaches. Recent Pacific Institute research found water efficiency measures could reduce urban water use in California by up to 48 percent, while also playing a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Building an equitable movement powered by collective action

At COP27 and beyond, the Pacific Institute is convening and equipping decisionmakers, including utilities, corporations, and public policymakers, to serve as key levers of change. In all cases, we call for equitable approaches that prioritize the most impacted stakeholders, especially frontline communities often disproportionately impacted by climate change, as well as the natural environment.

During COP27, the Pacific Institute advanced this work during a wide range of sessions. Our colleague Dr. Peter Gleick provided an assessment of the integrated nature of water, climate, and food challenges for the Science, Technology, and Society session organized by the Japanese government.

Many sessions also focused on the pivotal role the corporate sector must play by reducing water impacts of their operations and value chains—and by uniting through collective action. The Pacific Institute is proud to partner with the United Nations Global Compact in leading the CEO Water Mandate, which unites more than 200 companies to build water resilience. This work was front and center at COP27:

- The CEO Water Mandate launched the new Water Action Hub 4.0, a global online platform that highlights more than 1,600 projects and 1,000 organizations to build water resilience. The 4.0 version adds the new Corporate Water Benchmark Tool for companies to gauge their water practices and performance against industry peers.
- The CEO Water Mandate’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)-focused program, WASH4Work, also launched a new Corporate Declaration for Climate-Resilient WASH, establishing a framework for business WASH action across supply chains and in communities.
- Along with the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, International Water Management Institute, and World Resources Institute, the Pacific Institute and the CEO Water Mandate also launched the Corporate Guidance for the Water Resilience Assessment Framework to measure and enhance resilience across a range of industries.
- The Pacific Institute and the CEO Water Mandate launched a new Stakeholder Engagement Guide for Nature-Based Solutions for inclusive, culturally appropriate engagement with diverse stakeholders.
- At the Climate Ambition Hub, we premiered the “Ripples of Water Resilience; Stories of Global Impact and Collective Action” campaign highlighting the collective action work of the Water Resilience Coalition.

All hands on deck

As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his COP27 opening remarks, “The good news is that we know what to do and we have the [tools] to get the job done.”

As we see the water-related impacts of climate change ravage communities around the world—from Pakistan to the US West—one thing is clear. The risks of not acting quickly enough are simply unacceptable.

Indeed, we have the tools. Through transformative change and radical collaboration, now is the time to rapidly accelerate one thing: action.

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Contributions made to the Pacific Institute by December 31 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000.

November 18, 2022November 18, 2022

Advancing Innovative Water Efficiency Solutions at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference 2022

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Key takeaways

Innovative water efficiency solutions not only reduce water use; They also offer multi-benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving water equity.
Pacific Institute research finds water efficiency efforts could reduce California’s urban water use by up to 48%.
Cross-sector collaborations uniting utilities, companies, and NGOs can effectively advance water efficiency solutions.

Pacific Institute research and innovative solutions related to water efficiency and conservation were recently featured at the 2022 WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas. From October 4 to 6, technical sessions covered a spectrum of water efficiency and conservation topics, including advancing the adoption of water-efficient products, alternative water supplies, and marketing and outreach.

Pacific Institute researchers presented three technical sessions on innovative water management approaches that save water and build long-term water resilience, while providing a range of related multi-benefits, including saving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and supporting low-income communities. Below are summaries of the three Pacific Institute presentations and key takeaways.

Harnessing the Power of Water to Meet
Energy and Climate Goals

Heather Cooley, Director of Research, Pacific Institute

As conventional water sources become constrained, communities are considering more energy-intensive options, threatening to increase water’s energy and greenhouse gas footprints. Using California as a case study, this session drew on new data to develop future scenarios of water supplies and demands to estimate water’s energy and greenhouse gas footprints. For instance, key finding from Next10 report found that more comprehensive water conservation and efficiency efforts in urban California could reduce water related electricity usage by 19 percent, natural gas use by 16 percent, and GHG emissions by 41 percent cumulatively between 2015 and 2035. While focused on California, the methodology and results can help inform decisions for communities across the western United States and beyond. 

“Water and energy are intricately connected – we use energy across the water management cycle. This energy use results in greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. Urban water efficiency offers the greatest reductions in water-related energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.”

– Heather Cooley, Director of Research, Pacific Institute

Read more about the future of California’s water-energy-climate nexus here.

The Untapped Potential of California’s Urban Water Supply: Water Efficiency, Water Reuse, and Stormwater Capture

Dr. Sonali Abraham, Research Associate, Pacific Institute

This session highlighted the results of a recent Pacific Institute study that quantified California’s potential to significantly expand urban water efficiency, water reuse, and stormwater capture solutions. When implemented, these solutions can both reduce inefficient and wasteful water uses and expand local water supplies. Previous assessments have proven these options are also more cost effective than traditional approaches, which are also increasingly difficult to implement to expand supply. Tapping this potential would help solve California’s long-standing water problems and provide added benefits.

“California has made progress to reduce water use, but more is needed in the face of intensifying drought and climate change. Efficient technologies and practices can reduce California’s urban water use by 30% to 48%.”

– Dr. Sonali Abraham, Research Associate, Pacific Institute

Read more about the untapped potential of California’s urban water supplies here.

Advancing Water Efficiency in Low-Income Housing: Southern California Case Study

Cora Kammeyer, Senior Researcher, & Dr. Christine DeMyers, Research Associate, Pacific Institute

This session shared results from a cross-sector project in which corporations, NGOs, and water utilities worked together to install and monitor remote leak detection technology in three low-income apartment buildings in Southern California. The session covered the estimated water, energy, and cost savings from the project; stakeholder perspectives; and how the unique set of partners came together to make the project happen. The session also shared learnings from project implementation, including the project design and how to effectively partner across sectors. 

“With this project, we’re helping affordable multi-family housing properties realize the multiple benefits of participation in conservation and efficiency programs. The leak detection technology we are piloting saves water, reduces utility bills, and improves building maintenance workflow.”

– Dr. Christine DeMyers, Research Associate, Pacific Institute

Learn more about the project here.

To learn more about Pacific Institute’s work and keep up to date on future presentations and events, visit pacinst.org/presentations and sign up for our newsletter at pacinst.org/newsletter.

New Pacific Institute Guide on Onsite Water Reuse Systems

COP27 in Egypt

Water Resilience