According to the NWF, the Southeast must plan for increasing variability in water supply in the face of growing demand. This means shifting from an assumption of plentiful water, with occasional emergency events of too little or too much, to a modern management strategy that better plans for more extreme weather events and results in more sustainable water use.

Fortunately, more strategic water management approaches have important co-benefits. Because heating, treating, and moving water is energy intensive, reducing water use lowers electricity use, in turn reducing the global warming pollution that contributes to a more variable climate. Likewise, healthy forests and wetlands naturally regulate and cleanse water, are important fish and wildlife habitat, and sequester carbon that would otherwise contribute to global warming.

Important steps to meet these goals include:

1. Reduce global warming pollution.
2. Improve water-use efficiency and conservation.
3. Use risk-based, integrated water management strategies.
4. Consider sea-level rise in managing coastal freshwater resources.
5. Maintain and restore natural forest and wetland systems.

NWF Southeast Water Supply

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