Water Sense
Washington
Water Fact Shee,
Split down the middle by the snowy Cascade Mountains,
Washington state tends to have wetter weather on
the western side and be drier to the east. While
urban centers such as Seattle and Olympia drive water
demand on the western side of the state, the heavily agri-
cultural eastern part of the state requires water for irriga-
tion, as well as sustaining expanding cities such as Spokane. Agriculture is the
single biggest water user in the state, with more than 380,000 acres irrigated
by ground water.
Washington's water issues are also deeply tied to
protecting the salmon for which the state is
famous. Home of the Grand Coulee dam,
Washington is the leading hydroelectric power
producer in the nation. Hydroelectric power
accounts for nearly three-fourths of the state's
electricity generation, and requires that river
levels be high enough to enable its production.
Water Sources
The eastern and western sides of the state rely on
different primary water sources. The eastern por-
tion of the state largely relies on aquifers for its
water supply. A 2009 two-year groundwater map-
ping study found that aquifer levels in that region
are dropping faster than they can naturally
recharge, which may lead some wells to run dry.
The western side of the state mainly relies on
surface water for drinking supplies. During the
dry summer months, when water usage is at its
peak, the region becomes heavily dependent on
the state's melting snow pack to maintain its sur-
face water reserves. Shifts in both the timing
and the volume of snowmelt have recently led
to more frequent summer water shortages in
western Washington.
Climate Concerns
Based on analysis of climate change trends in
the area, meteorologists are predicting increased
rain and decreased snow in western Washington,
leading to reduced water supply from snowmelt.
This will hit the state particularly hard during the
dry summer months. Another prediction calls for
Washington crop yields to decline by 25 percent
by the end of the century, and tree fruit yields to
be approximately halved by the 2080s, depend-
ing upon their level of dependence on irrigation.
June 2010
(866) WTR-SENS (987-7367) • www.epa.gov/watersense • watersense@epa.gov
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Keeping Washington in Water
Washington has implemented a number of
measures to protect and preserve its water
sources. The state's Department of Ecology
monitors river levels and river water usage in
order to maintain an adequate water level for
wildlife while still providing for human needs.
In 2003, the Washington legislature established
statewide water-efficiency requirements.
Municipal water suppliers are now setting goals
and reporting annually on their water-efficiency
efforts. The legislature has also supported using
reclaimed water, which is water that has been
used once and can be reused for toilet flushing,
irrigation, or other uses. Today there are 20
reclaimed water facilities in operation statewide.
The state Department of Transportation has also
implemented landscape water conservation
practices, resulting in a water savings of 36 mil-
lion gallons in 2005 compared to 2004.
Local entities such as Seattle Public Utilities
encourage customers to conserve through pub-
lic awareness campaigns, incentivized pricing
for consumers who use less water, and con-
sumer rebates for appliances and fixtures that
are water- and energy-efficient. Consumers can
take advantage of rebates for WaterSense
labeled and other water-efficient products that
are offered through programs such as the
Saving Water Partnership and the Cascade
Water Alliance (see below).
Thanks to measures such as these, while the
Seattle area population steadily grew by 16 per-
cent between 1990 and 2008, water usage
dropped by 26 percent.
There are still more opportunities for consumer
water savings in Washington. In fact, if just one
out of 10 households in the state replaced its
older, inefficient toilets with WaterSense labeled
models, it would save about 2.6 billion gallons
of water and $16 million in water bills annually.
That's more than enough water to supply every
household in Olympia, Washington, for a year!
If every household in Washington replaced its
showerheads with WaterSense labeled models,
more than five billion gallons of water a year
would be saved, which translates into more
than $30 million in avoided water bills and near-
ly $60 million in avoided energy costs to heat
the water.
Partnerships Power Water Savings in Washington
In 2000, Seattle Public Utilities and 17 other local utilities formed the
Saving Water Partnership (SWP) to promote efficient water use in Seattle EPA
and King County, Washington. In 2007, SWP incorporated WaterSense "\A/fl1"PTSPTl^P
labeled products and outreach into its local water-efficiency campaign ^r\r\rt PARTNFR
through public service announcements, outreach to plumbers, and ^(JL/O OF THE YEAR
public events.
To demonstrate the flushing power of WaterSense labeled toilets, SWP staged "The Great Flush-Off" in
Seattle, where representatives from the Partnership and EPA flushed ping pong balls and potatoes. These
efforts resulted in increased customer traffic and inquiries about WaterSense labeled toilets at participat-
ing retailers, as well as increased replacement of old, water-guzzling toilets through the SWP's multi-fam-
ily residence toilet replacement program.
SWP also sponsors Savvy Gardener classes to promote native plants that require minimal irrigation and
offers rebates to residential and business customers for water-efficient toilets, clothes washers,
and other products. As a result of all these water-saving efforts, SWP earned the WaterSense Partner of
the Year Award in 2008.
The Cascade Water Alliance, a nonprofit organization of municipal entities that serve the Puget Sound
region, gave $100 rebates for more than 3,000 WaterSense labeled toilets and offered free recycling of old
toilets in 2009. The effort gained traction during WaterSense's first Fix a Leak Week, when Cascade mailed
toilet leak detection dye kits to 100,000 households.
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