Fiscal Note
This resolution has no direct budgetary impact for 2008. This resolution will likely require the reallocation of existing staff in various agencies to meet the planning and reporting requirements.
Title
SUBSTITUTE - Requiring all City agencies and departments, in cooperation with the Facilities and Sustainability Manager, to estimate their current water consumption and to come up with a comprehensive list of steps to reduce their water consumption.
Body
WHEREAS, water is essential for life; and
WHEREAS, an adequate supply of clean water is critical to keeping Madison a great community in which to live, work and play; and
WHEREAS, water quantity impacts water quality, and surface water and groundwater are hydrologically connected; and
WHEREAS, groundwater levels in the aquifer underneath Madison are estimated to have fallen 60 feet or more below predevelopment conditions and continue to fall; and
WHEREAS, the continuous pumping of water wells at maximum capacity has the potential to transport contaminant plumes and leach other contaminants from rock formations in the aquifer; and
WHEREAS, communities across the state that depend on groundwater for drinking water, as Madison does, have been left searching for alternative sources of water or costly purification technologies, and
WHEREAS, communities outside of the arid southwest, such as Atlanta, Georgia are facing water supplies that may run out unless substantial rains occur before early 2008 because of unsustainable consumption and poor planning; and
WHEREAS, the pumping, transport and treating of water is often the largest municipal use for electricity and thus a very large source of green house gas emissions; and
WHEREAS, the Madison population continues to grow and thrive, even as our water supplies decline; and is expected to increase along with surrounding communities who share the aquifer; and
WHEREAS, water conservation and efficiency can save the City money by reducing water demand and perhaps eliminating the need for future capital expenditures such as additional new wells, reduce Madison's carbon footprint, reduce energy costs and consumption and protect the lakes, rivers, wetlands and springs which we enjoy and depend upon;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Madison does hereby require that all City agencies and departments, in cooperation with the Facilities and Sustainability Manager and Water Utility General Manager, estimate as accurately as possible their current water consumption - indoor and outdoor - and to what purpose that water use is going.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each agency and department shall, in cooperation with the Facilities and Sustainability Manager, come up with a comprehensive list of steps each can take to reduce its water consumption.
BE IT FINALLY FURTHER RESOLVED that each agency and department shall, in cooperation with the Facilities and Sustainability Manager and the Water Utility General Manager, submit a report containing the information referred to above to the Common Council and the Water Utility Board by June 1 November 1, 2008.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the report shall be incorporated into the Water Conservation and Sustainability Plan and subsequent revisions thereof.