Water Sustainability: Results of the Army Installation Water Study

Army installations, like many communities, are experiencing water shortages. The key to sustaining water supplies is great cooperation among regional governing bodies. Traditional approaches of local governments implementing water policy in isolation have not worked. This presentation illustrates how the Army is establishing methods to assess regional supply and demand vulnerabilities and achieve local supply targets. The scope of work addresses regional water issues. The national watershed assessment characterizes the overall health of watersheds. This uses an indicator framework based on 27 water quality and quantity indicators. The result is a quick and effective tool to identify pressures and thus employ appropriate detailed analyses. The regional water budgets, estimate water demand on a watershed level. The regional water budget projects supply and demand thirty years into the future—allowing what if analyses to support development of strategies to meet conservation goals. For example, regions are able to quantify the impacts of particular polices on future water supplies. Army installations operate similar to small communities or universities. They are a governing district with a mix of land uses, economies, and social structures. As such, each entity knows all too well how scarce water supplies can impact the ability to sustain the population, quality of life, and mission. Installations, communities, and universities can learn from one another. Following is a brief synopsis of the Army’s water supply assessment tools documented within ERDC/CERL Technical Report entitled Army Installation Water Sustainability Assessment and due for public release in September of 2009. The report will be made accessible through the World Wide Web (WWW) at URL: http://www.cecer.army.mi