Water

Water, like energy, is a valuable resource that is too frequently squandered. Fresh, clean water is scarce and getting more so: of all the water on earth, less than 3 percent is fresh, and all but three-thousandths of that is locked up in glaciers or icecaps or is too deep in the earth to retrieve. Of the freshwater available in rivers, lakes, and the ground, an increasingly large fraction is polluted with biological, chemical, and radioactive contaminants.

Most governments, utilities, and water users are making the same mistakes with water that they have made with energy: depleting nonrenewable supplies, using the highest-quality water for every task, supplying more instead of making more productive use of what they have, building big water infrastructure systems without considering what the best size is for the job, and failing to protect and take advantage of the services ecosystems provide. These "hard path" approaches are increasingly unaffordable and harmful to the environment.

RMI works to foster a "soft path" for water: technologies and management systems that provide the same or better services with less water, and usually with less expansive and expensive infrastructure.

Our staff and our network of affiliated professionals research and publish reports on cutting-edge water management ideas, consult for companies, utilities, and governments, and educate the public and other professionals on effective strategies.

RMI works in the following water-related areas:

• Household Water Efficiency
  
• Water Efficiency Policy and Implementation
  
• Infrastructure and System Planning
  
• Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Water Efficiency
  
• Watersheds, Stormwater, and Stream Restoration