White House Unveils #H2OInnovation Plan
As part of this outreach, the Obama administration released a new report that lays out the water innovation strategy in greater detail and hosted a roundtable on water innovation Dec. 15.
Following up the breakthrough climate change agreement in Paris by 195 countries, the White House on Dec. 15 announced an #H2OInnovation public-private water innovation strategy. It includes a two-part approach headed by federal agencies to address the impacts of climate change on the use and supply of the nation's water resources and urges the private sector to help significantly scale up research and investment in water efficiency solutions.
As outlined by the White House, the strategy calls for:
- Boosting water sustainability and long-term water security by increasing use of water-efficient and reuse technologies.
- Promoting and investing in breakthrough R&D to cut the price, energy costs, and emissions requirements of new water supply technology in order to achieve "pipe parity" in the next decade. "High costs currently prohibit most communities from turning non-traditional water sources like seawater or brackish water into fresh water. Through new ambitious technical targets for cost-competitive new supplies of water from nontraditional sources, we can reach 'pipe parity,' meaning costs equal to those from current processes for delivering fresh water. The technical targets include reducing the cost by four times, reducing electricity usage by three times, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by two times," the announcement stated.
As part of this outreach, the Obama administration released a new report that lays out the water innovation strategy in greater detail and hosted a roundtable on water innovation Dec. 15. And a new Center for Natural Resources Investment has been launched at the Department of the Interior to promote increased private investment in water infrastructure and facilitate locally led water exchange agreements in the western United States.