Next Generation water summit

The City of Santa Fe hosts a Next GenerationWater Summit in early June. It will highlight Santa Fe’s leadership role and bring together other water leaders from theWest who work in stormwater management, water reuse, and water efficiency. Santa Fe has done a remarkable job of conserving water over the last decade and a half. We have dropped from an average of over 150 gallons per day to less than 90 gallons per day. Our population has grown and yet our water production has dropped!

The city has used all types of programs to achieve these remarkable results, including education and outreach programs, rebates, and restrictions in the land-use code. Santa Fe has been an early adopter and promoter of water-conservation techniques. We were one of the first cities to implement a toilet retrofit program and rebates to incentivize the purchase of water-saving appliances and devices. We are also one of the few cities that integrate water conservation into our land use code. The city continues its leadership role with the adoption of theWater Efficiency Rating Score (WERS).

So as a leader in water conservation it was only natural for the City of Santa Fe, the Green Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association, and the National Green Build Coalition to come together to sponsor the summit. Santa Fe Community College is the official training sponsor and Green Media is the official media partner.

The summit begins on June 4 with Green Expo Day, open to the general public and including 12 free sessions on water-efficient food growth, water-efficiency techniques for homeowners, and other topics. The following two days feature speakers from around the country offering sessions that address water issues in the American Southwest. There will also be followup opportunities to bring to life the ideas and solutions created from these discussions. The goal of the summit is to educate, but also to bring solutions to the table.

A few of the out-of-town presenters include keynote speaker Mary Ann Dickinson of Alliance forWater Efficiency talking about the Net Blue Ordinance Initiative, Jonah Schein from the Environment Protection Agency on the future of theWaterSense for New Homes program, and Doug Bennet from the Southern NevadaWaterAuthority on “NoWater, No Growth.”

Among the local speakers are architect Edward Mazria, founder of the 2030 Challenge; Javier Gonzales, mayor of Santa Fe; and Kim Shanahan, executive director of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association.

More information and registration for the Summit can be found at www.next- generationwatersummit.com.

Doug Pushard, founder of the website www.HarvestH2o.com, has designed and installed residential rainwater systems for over a decade. He is a member of the Santa FeWater Conservation Committee, a lifetime member of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, and an EPAWaterSense Partner. He can be reached at doug@HarvestH2o.com.