Protecting Drinking Water at the Source

The report examines 13 watershed investment programs in the U.S., focusing on how natural infrastructure—specifically forests—can be used to protect drinking water quality and quantity. It provides a framework for program development across three phases: building momentum, designing the program, and implementing the action plan. Key findings emphasize the importance of collaborative partnerships, scientifically informed planning, and diverse financing mechanisms, such as municipal bonds and water rate surcharges, to overcome barriers like insufficient funding and lack of outcome data.

• Watershed investment programs connect downstream water users, such as utilities and municipal governments, with upstream landowners to fund the conservation and restoration of lands that protect water quantity and quality.
• U.S. water infrastructure faces a significant funding gap, with estimates suggesting that replacing aging pipes and filtration systems could cost more than $1 trillion over the next 25 years.
• Natural infrastructure, such as forests and wetlands, can reduce water management costs and provide co-benefits including carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and recreational spaces.
• The primary barriers to the establishment and growth of watershed investment programs are a lack of investment, insufficient support from key stakeholders, and a lack of data on outcomes to evaluate performance.
• Successful programs often form in response to specific risks, such as wildfire in the West or land-use change in the East, and capitalize on 'windows of opportunity' like catastrophic events or regulatory changes.
• A shared vision of success is critical for coalition building and performance evaluation, although many programs struggle to set direct water quality targets due to the high cost and technical difficulty of measurement.
• Scientifically informed watershed plans often utilize geospatial analysis to prioritize land parcels for treatment based on ecological indicators and development pressures.
• Financing for these programs is typically diverse; seed funding often comes from philanthropic grants, while long-term funding is secured through municipal bonds, utility operating budgets, or dedicated water rate surcharges.
• Engagement strategies differ by land ownership: public land management focuses on administrative compliance (e.g., NEPA), while private land engagement requires building trust through intermediaries like land trusts.
• The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process can be a significant administrative hurdle for projects on federal lands, but funding the staff time for these assessments can accelerate implementation.
• Monitoring often relies on 'proxies' such as acres treated or protected rather than direct water quality measurements, due to the complexity of attributing water improvements to specific land management activities.

APA

Ozment, S., Gartner, T., Huber-Stearns, H., DiFrancesco, K., Lichten, N., & Tognetti, S. (2016). Protecting Drinking Water at the Source. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/Protecting_Drinking_Water_at_the_Source.pdf

Chicago

Ozment, Suzanne, Todd Gartner, Heidi Huber-Stearns, Kara DiFrancesco, Nathaniel Lichten, and Sylvia Tognetti. Protecting Drinking Water at the Source. World Resources Institute, 2016. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/Protecting_Drinking_Water_at_the_Source.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{ozment2016protecting, author = {Ozment, Suzanne and Gartner, Todd and Huber-Stearns, Heidi and DiFrancesco, Kara and Lichten, Nathaniel and Tognetti, Sylvia}, title = {{Protecting Drinking Water at the Source}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2016}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/Protecting_Drinking_Water_at_the_Source.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }