Water conservation: Continue to achieve water conservation and efficiency improvements as communities develop
Strategy Description
Promote conservation and efficiency practices for municipal, industrial, and commercial water use. This strategy aims to support future development without increasing the demand for freshwater across the entire basin. This strategy would focus heavily on reducing freshwater demand for industrial and commercial uses, as municipalities typically see a relatively high return rate so reductions in municipal water use would have less effect on river flow.
Possible Benefits
Benefits would be proportional to the degree of conservation practiced. Some benefits could include:
- Increased walleye recruitment
- Reduced water shortages
- Reduction in instream flow need violations
Possible Trade-offs
- Expenses and effort required to implement conversation throughout basin
- Some sectors might struggle to meet the conversation targets without experiencing diminishing returns
