While it is true that water supplies in Kitsap County are adequate for the near future, several factors make it prudent to start an effective conservation program now:
- Eliminating water waste saves money
- Growth projections indicate that currently developed water supplies will not meet projected needs in the long term.
- Groundwater supplies, our best available resources, normally do not require expensive treatment so we need to stretch their use and efficiency as much as possible.
- Importing drinking water from other regional sources is very expensive, politically difficult to accomplish, and is often impossible due to water right restrictions.
- Desalination of seawater is expensive with the current technology.
- Extracting too much water from the ground, especially shallow wells, could have adverse ecological effects on instream flows and could impact salmon streams and federally protected species.
- It takes a long time for a population to learn and adapt to water conservation measures.
- By lowering the amount of water we waste (use unnecessarily), we can decrease the amount of associated resources we waste (i.e., resources required to collect, treat, deliver, and dispose of the "wasted" water).
- New water right applications require evidence of conservation measures by the utility and may be integral to obtaining a favorable decision on those applications. Without efficient use of current water resources, the DOE has no incentive to increase allowable production.