The Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) has prepared a position paper titled, Transforming Water: Water Efficiency as Infrastructure Investment. The paper quantitatively examines the short-term economic growth impacts of water efficiency investments, specifically in terms of job creation, income, GDP, national output, water savings, and other benefits. For example:
- Economic output benefits would range between $2.5 and $2.8 billion per billion dollars of direct investment.
- GDP benefits would range between $1.3 and $1.5 billion per billion dollars of investment.
- Employment potential would range between 12,000 and 26,000 jobs per billion dollars of direct investment.
Not only do investments in water efficiency generate economic benefits, they have several added advantages when compared to conventional infrastructure investments. Investing in water efficiency now will, over the longer term, boost U.S. manufacturing, help advance national energy policy, promote sustainable resource use, contribute towards GHG emissions reduction, and lessen mounting regional conflicts over water resources.
