White House launches 'moonshot for water'

Gregory Korte and Ian James | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The White House launched an ambitious effort to enlist the private sector in its efforts to reclaim and conserve water Tuesday, saying it’s critical for the country to better manage water supplies that are under increasing pressures from climate change.

"Water is a huge challenge in this country, and I think we all know that," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said at a meeting at the White House. "It’s important we have all hands on deck."

The strategy, known informally as a "moonshot for water," focuses on encouraging technological advances and private-sector investment to rebuild water projects like reservoirs, boost data collection, support water-sharing agreements and find new technologies to recycle and conserve water.

Jewell announced the creation of a new Natural Resource Investment Center to help coordinate research and investment on water conservation and water rights management. She also announced a Water Summit to be held at the White House on March 22, which is World Water Day.

Groundwater levels have been declining in many areas across the country. In an analysis of U.S. Geological Survey data published this month, USA TODAY and The Desert Sun found that water levels have declined in 64% of the wells included in the government database during the past two decades. The average decline among decreasing wells has been more than 10 feet, and in some areas the water table has dropped more than 100 feet since 1995.

In a report laying out its water technology innovation strategy, the White House noted that some of the largest increases in water demand due to climate change are projected to occur in regions of the U.S. that rely on groundwater, such as the Great Plains and parts of the Southwest. It said global warming “will challenge the sustainability of the aquifers in these regions.”

The White House recommended that groundwater levels and the amounts pumped should be better monitored.

The initiative is modeled after a similar push for solar power, which the White House credits for driving down the cost of solar energy and speeding its adoption. "We are literally taking that playbook and running that again," said Ali Zaidi, the Associate Director for Natural Resources, Energy and Science at the Office of Management and Budget.

"We need to up our game on water. That's the message we have today," he said. "We crushed it on solar, and we're going to do the same on water."

The solar playbook combined federal research, grants and open data with commitments from private sector companies to increase their use of clean energy.

Here's the kind of innovation the Obama administration would like to see: Better materials for water pipes, where leaks rob 16% of the nation's water supply, and better sensors to detect those leaks; more water-efficient household appliances; and more cost-effective desalination technologies to transform seawater and brackish water into usable freshwater using less energy and emitting less greenhouse gases.

"It's important to understand that the technology to do all that already exists," said John Holdren, President Obama's chief science adviser. "But we need innovation and entrepreneurship to expand on the technologies we already have."

Echoing Obama's language on clean energy, Holdren said the country needs an “all-of-the-above approach” to water policies.

The White House said its March 22 water summit will focus on potential solutions and “innovative, long-term strategies for making sure we have enough water when and where we need it.”

In its report, the White House emphasized some federal efforts that are already underway, such as an initiative to make water data publicly accessible. It said that as climate change leads to shifts in water supplies and demand for water, “communities will need to expand, reduce, or reconfigure their water infrastructure systems, including through innovative public-private partnerships.”

Administration officials also said there are big opportunities for using water more efficiently in agriculture. They pointed out, for example, that many of the nation’s irrigated farms have yet to adopt advanced technologies such as devices for sensing soil moisture, which can help dramatically reduce water usage.

Ian James reported from Palm Springs, Calif.