The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread released last month its capstone report, Navigating to New Shores, Seizing the Future for Sustainable and Resilient U.S. Freshwater Resources, the final report of the Foundation’s Charting New Waters initiative. The initiative began with a Call to Action, a report that resulted from the discussions of a diverse group of participants from government, water, agriculture, NGOs and private industry, identifying recommendations for decision makers in “all sectors of American society” to consider in to address the nation’s freshwater challenges. Following the Call to Action, the Johnson Foundation convened several additional meetings that included over 600 expert participants and published reports on topics including integrated water management, financing sustainable water infrastructure, nutrient management, urban water security and “distributed” urban water infrastructure.
The capstone report synthesizes the information from the six-year Charting New Waters initiative into several recommendations “to catalyze change” that can be categorized into five ideas:
- Optimize the use of available water supplies;
- Transition to next-generation wastewater systems;
- Integrate the management of water, energy and food production;
- Institutionalize the value of water; and
- Create integrated utilities.
The report also recommends nine guiding principles to help foster the adoption of “transformative” solutions that will lead to sustainable and resilient water infrastructure in the future.