Water and Land Use Planning

Water and Land Use are deeply connected resource-wise, but in many communities water and land use are not often planned together. When a community develops its master plan and zoning ordinances, available water supply and sustainable water use should be major considerations. The local water supplier should be deeply involved in advising on community growth planning. Recently the American Planning Association recognized this lack of linkage and created the Water and Planning Network  to bring together water supply planners, land use planners, engineers, and government agencies to discuss ways to better collaborate on water and land use planning issues.

Another issue in water and land use planning is focusing on water resources in the water supply watershed. Water efficiency can help with environmental flows and watershed restoration. The Alliance for Water Efficiency has done seminal work in this area for the Colorado River Basin, focusing on how water efficiency can be used to help augment in-stream flows.