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Sustainable Operations,
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201 14th Street SW
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Sustainable Operations

Water
Footprint Focus Area

Become the world leader for water conservation and water source protection by 2020.

Water is often considered the cheap utility, too inexpensive for conservation to be financially worthwhile. However, water is costly in many ways; it depletes aquifers, required energy for pumping, chemicals for treatment and staffing to operate treatment and wastewater treatment plants. By using water efficiently, we can protect water sources, improve water quality and reduce the amount of energy used to treat, pump, and heat water.

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We don’t know how much total water we use as an agency. Our estimate for water consumption in 2004 is 440,000,000 gallons, and like energy, this figure doesn’t account for all the water we used. Like energy use, quantifying water use will require a shift in the way we collect information. Currently, water costs are often included with trash collection and other municipal fees. We also have no tracking system for water used in leased buildings or at campgrounds or rest areas.

Quick Links to the topics on this page:

...Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge we will face in this century, partly because it will affect our water supply, our most precious natural resource, said Forest Service Chief Abigail R. Kimbell.

Goal
Guidelines
Letters From Leadership
Performance Criteria
Tools
Articles
Presentations
FAQs

Goal

Lead: WO Watershed, Fish, Wildlife, Air, and Rare Plants

WATER CONSERVATION: Reduce water consumption intensity by 2% annually through 2015.
WATER CONSERVATION / EFFICIENCY / EVALUATIONS: Complete water conservation/efficiency evaluations at 25% of facilities per year.

Guidelines

Executive Order 13423 (2007) has several water-related requirements, including the following:

Reduce water consumption intensity by 2 percent annually or 16 percent by the end of FY 2015 using an FY 2007 baseline.
Conduct energy and water audits on at least 10 percent of our buildings per year.

The accountable official at the national level is:

Watershed Fish and Wildlife
- WFW Directory

Letters From Leadership

12/21/2009 - Responding to General Government Proposals from the President's SAVE Award [PDF]
- The President’s first-ever SAVE Award invited employees from across the Federal Government to submit their ideas for making our Government more efficient and effective - read about the great ideas.
10/2/2008 Water Strategy [RTF]