Fund the construction of municipal storage and reuse technologies

One way to offset the municipal supply-shortage caused by agricultural water use is to aid municipalities with the construction of water storage and reuse infrastructure. Aquifer recharge programs underway in California have shown the ability to provide a long-term renewable water supply (WRA, 2001). Aquifer recharge and wastewater reuse are less viable as alternatives in rural areas because of the high cost of infrastructure. Funding of these projects in water-critical regions, similar to wastewater infrastructure funding provided by Congress in the 1950s and 1960s, will allow for the completion of projects that are too expensive to depend solely on local funding (Baumann and Dworkin, 1978). Use of taxpayer money to assist a select area of the country may be objectionable to some, but these municipal storage and reuse projects will ease the demand on non-local sources, minimizing the diversion of surface water and the overdraft of groundwater (NRC, 1998). However, this reduced demand may allow poor agricultural water use practices to continue, since the overall scarcity of water will be less dire.