WUCA recognizes the importance of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation as a key climate adaptation strategy and an issue of climate leadership in the water sector.
Ultimately, the more GHG emissions are mitigated, the less water utilities will need to adapt. Therefore, a key objective in WUCA's 2022-2026 Strategic Plan(Opens PDF document)(Opens new window) is for the alliance to continue developing practical examples and case studies of climate adaptation and climate mitigation. Water utilities have a unique role to play in mitigating GHGs, both due to the high energy usage of the water industry as well as the leading example that the water industry sets for other industries and business communities.
These GHG mitigation case studies are examples of progressive GHG mitigation projects at water utilities and include lessons learned during implementation. The selection of case studies is designed to represent a wide swath of project types—it is not an exhaustive list but hopefully a strong starting point for utilities to learn from each other. The focus was on water supply utilities, but many of the projects can be equally applied at wastewater and stormwater utilities.
The case studies were developed in partnership with the utilities profiled, and contacts are provided in each case study to facilitate follow-up and enable interested readers to learn more about implementing similar projects.
Floating Solar
Location: Lake County, California
Utility: Lake County Special District
Inline Micro-Hydro
Location: Portland, Oregon
Utility: Portland Water Bureau
Wind Power, Solar and Battery Storage
Location: Southern California
Utility: Inland Empire Utilities Agency
Carbon Free Water
Location: Sonoma, California
Utility: Sonoma Water
Reducing Fleet Emissions
Location: Oakland, California
Utility: East Bay Municipal Utility District
Pumping Optimization
Location: Lakewood, California
Utility: City of Lakewood
Sustainable Water Treatment Plant
Location: Denver, Colorado
Utility: Denver Water
Smart Building Cooling
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Utility: Waternet
Solar Panels
Location: San Diego, California
Utility: San Diego County Water Authority
Biogas to Local Natural Gas
Location: New York, New York
Utility: New York City Department of Environmental Protection
Energy Recovery System for the Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Plant
Location: Carlsbad, California
Utility: Poseidon Water
The Water Energy Nexus Protocol
Location: Sacramento, California
Utility: California Department of Water Resources
Pumping Efficiencies
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Utility: Massachusetts Water Resources Authority