One Water: A Practical Path for Communities Facing Overlapping Water Challenges
💧Key Takeaways
Integrated Water Management: The One Water approach unifies drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, encouraging communities to manage all water as a single, shared resource for greater resilience and efficiency.
Cost Savings and Reduced Disruption: Coordinating water infrastructure projects minimizes duplicate costs, shortens construction disruptions, and unlocks multi-benefit funding opportunities from state and federal programs.
Addressing Aging Infrastructure and Rising Demand: U.S. water systems face $1.2 trillion in investment needs over two decades, with additional pressure from population growth and water-intensive industries like data centers and AI facilities. One Water aligns conservation, planning, and innovation to meet these challenges.
Regional Adaptability and Nationwide Relevance: One Water strategies are tailored to local conditions, whether it’s flood mitigation in the Midwest, drought management in the Southwest, coastal resilience in the Southeast, or watershed protection in mountainous regions. In turn, this makes every project smarter and more resilient.
Multi-Benefit Solutions and Green Infrastructure: Examples include integrating stormwater management with wastewater upgrades, using green infrastructure (bioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavements), and reusing treated wastewater for irrigation or industrial cooling, all of which support ecosystem health and sustainable agriculture.
Actionable Steps for Communities: Start with identifying overlapping projects, convening cross-departmental teams early, and piloting integrated water initiatives to demonstrate value and build momentum for larger-scale adoption.
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Communities across the country face a shared challenge: managing limited water resources under increasing pressure. In wetter climates, snowmelt and spring rainfall test local systems, while in arid regions, prolonged drought creates shortages. These pressures are intensified by population growth, shifting climates, and aging infrastructure.
Traditionally, drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater have been planned and managed separately. The One Water approach flips that model. Instead of treating these systems in isolation, it encourages communities to see all water as a single, shared resource – and to look for opportunities to solve multiple challenges at once.
Why Separate Planning Creates Challenges
When water systems are managed in silos, communities often encounter the same problems again and again:
Duplicate costs when separate projects in the same area lead to repeated mobilization, paving, and restoration.
Longer disruptions for residents and businesses who endure multiple rounds of construction.
Missed funding opportunities, as state and federal programs increasingly reward multi-benefit projects.
Beyond cost and disruption, resilience suffers. Stormwater, drought, and water quality challenges are deeply interconnected, yet solutions are often developed independently. That means opportunities to build stronger, more adaptable systems are overlooked.
Shared Challenges: Rising Costs, Affordability, and Emerging Pressures
Across the country, communities are grappling with aging infrastructure, rising costs, and growing water demand. U.S. water systems face investment needs over the next two decades, even as utilities balance affordability concerns for residents. Meanwhile, new industries such as data centers and AI facilities are adding pressure, with some consuming millions of gallons of water per day for cooling and operations. Together, these factors highlight the importance of a One Water approach that aligns conservation, planning, and innovation to create resilient and sustainable water systems.
What an Integrated Mindset Looks Like
Shifting from siloed planning to an integrated approach allows communities to tackle multiple challenges at once, turning repetitive costs and disruptions into opportunities for smarter, more resilient solutions. One Water is not a single project type; it’s a way of thinking. At its core, it asks communities to recognize the connections between systems and design solutions that reflect those relationships.
For example, a city replacing an aging water main might also coordinate stormwater improvements and roadway reconstruction in the same project. Additionally, stormwater management facilities can be designed not just for flood control but also to recharge groundwater or provide habitat. In arid climates, treated wastewater can be captured and reused for irrigation or industrial cooling rather than being discharged.
This integrated approach is already taking hold in many places. Los Angeles has committed to a citywide One Water Plan that looks at every source – from imported supplies to recycled wastewater – as part of one system. In Denver, green infrastructure is being layered into street and stormwater upgrades, turning necessary construction into multi-benefit projects that also enhance neighborhoods.
Whether the challenge is flood mitigation in Minnesota, aquifer depletion in Texas, or aging infrastructure anywhere in between, the shared goal is simple: use every drop wisely.
The National Relevance
The One Water approach isn’t confined to any single region – it’s a nationwide strategy helping communities tackle their unique water challenges.
While each region faces different pressures, the goal is consistent: make every project smarter, better coordinated, and more resilient. One Water adapts to local conditions, from the heavy rains and flooding risks of the Midwest to the drought and scarcity challenges of the Southwest, from hurricanes in the Southeast to snowmelt-driven flows in mountainous areas, while keeping the broader water system in focus.
How Midwestern Communities Use One Water to Improve Soil and Infrastructure
In the Midwest, agriculture shapes both the economy and the environment, but decades of intensive land use has increased nutrient runoff and sedimentation. Clients in the region are increasingly turning to the One Water approach to address these interconnected challenges by coordinating water, wastewater, and stormwater initiatives.
For example, some municipalities are integrating stormwater management with wastewater treatment upgrades to reduce nutrient loads entering rivers and lakes. In much of the Midwest, runoff from fertilized cropland carries high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus into ditches and rivers, contributing to nutrient pollution and downstream problems. Common conservation practices include cover cropping, contour farming, vegetative buffer strips, and saturated buffers. By slowing and infiltrating this runoff where it falls, these practices filter out some of those excess nutrients, recharge groundwater, and support healthier, more biologically active soils.
Utilities and local governments are also leveraging One Water strategies to optimize investments. By aligning wastewater treatment improvements with stormwater system rehabilitation, clients can reduce long-term costs, improve water quality, and extend the life of overtaxed pipes and treatment facilities. Agricultural stakeholders benefit as well, by combining conservation practices such as cover cropping and riparian buffers with municipal water initiatives, creating regional solutions that protect both farmland and downstream water resources.
Through this integrated approach, clients can achieve multiple objectives simultaneously: safeguarding drinking water, reducing flooding and erosion, improving ecosystem health, and supporting sustainable agricultural productivity. By viewing water, wastewater, and stormwater as parts of a connected system, the Midwest can develop resilient, cost-effective solutions that meet both community and environmental needs.
How Southwestern Communities use One Water to Stretch Supplies and Handle Drought
Water scarcity in the Southwest is driven by enduring aridity, warming trends, and prolonged drought cycles that strain historically limited surface water and groundwater systems. A One Water approach brings all water sources and outcomes – such as potable supplies, wastewater, stormwater, recycled water, groundwater, and alternative sources – into unified planning and operation. This integrated strategy helps match the right water to each use and builds resilience into regional supply portfolios, even as river inflows and traditional sources continue to decline and uncertainty increases.
Reusing water for both non-potable and potable purposes is a vital part of the solution in dry regions, supported by advanced treatment systems that manage microbial and chemical risks. Desalination of brackish groundwater, which is less salty than seawater but too saline for conventional use, provides a drought-resistant reserve when energy use, source-water quality, and concentrate disposal are carefully managed. Managed aquifer recharge allows communities to store recycled water, captured stormwater, or surplus supplies underground, creating long-term flexibility and buffering against dry periods. Meanwhile, stormwater capture and infiltration transform infrequent rainfall into local water resources. Integrated governance and transparent performance tracking ensure that the One Water approach supports equity, cost-effectiveness, and dependable service across all sectors.
How Southeastern Communities Use One Water to Curb Flooding and Protect Water
Coastal aquifers in the Southeast are increasingly vulnerable as population growth, urban development, and rising sea levels place added stress on already limited freshwater resources. Sea level rise increases hydraulic pressure, forcing saltwater to move farther inland and upward within aquifers, a process known as saltwater intrusion. This encroachment can reduce the availability of potable water and degrade ecosystems that depend on freshwater flows. Research from federal and regional agencies shows that even small increases in sea level can cause significant shifts in the interface between fresh and saline groundwater, particularly in low-lying coastal plains. In addition, extensive groundwater pumping for municipal and agricultural use can exacerbate the problem by lowering water tables, which further invites saline water into previously fresh zones.
The One Water approach provides a framework to manage these interrelated challenges as part of a single water cycle. Integrating surface water, groundwater, stormwater, and water reuse helps maintain aquifer pressure, enhance recharge, and balance supply and demand across the system. Managed recharge projects can introduce treated water or stormwater into shallow aquifers, slowing or preventing the inland migration of saltwater. Water reuse and conservation reduce the need for groundwater withdrawals, helping preserve hydraulic balance and water quality. In coastal regions, combining monitoring networks, hydrologic modeling, and integrated planning supports more adaptive responses to sea level rise and changing precipitation patterns. This coordinated approach builds long-term resilience by ensuring that water supply, land use, and climate adaptation strategies work together to protect communities, economies, and ecosystems across the Southeast.
How Mountain Communities Use One Water to Manage Snowmelt and Growth
Mountainous regions serve as the headwaters for most of the nation’s major rivers, supplying water to millions of people and vast ecosystems downstream. These areas act as natural storage systems, capturing precipitation as snow and slowly releasing it through meltwater that sustains flows throughout the year. However, increasing development, deforestation, and changing land use threaten the stability and quality of these flows by altering runoff patterns, reducing infiltration, and introducing sediment and pollutants into streams. Climate change compounds these challenges by shifting precipitation from snow to rain, accelerating snowmelt, and changing the timing and availability of downstream water. Protecting the hydrologic integrity of these upland environments is essential to maintaining consistent, clean water supplies for communities, agriculture, and industry across the region.
The One Water approach recognizes mountainous regions as vital components of the broader water infrastructure system. Instead of relying solely on manmade storage and treatment, this perspective views forests, wetlands, and riparian corridors as living systems that provide natural filtration, flow regulation, and habitat benefits. Integrating these landscapes into water planning supports sustainable management by reducing erosion, enhancing groundwater recharge, and maintaining biodiversity that contributes to watershed health. Through collaborative planning and investment, communities can align watershed protection, forest management, and climate adaptation strategies to ensure reliable water supplies and preserve ecosystem services. This holistic approach builds resilience across the entire hydrologic network by treating upland watersheds not only as sources of water, but as critical infrastructure that supports environmental and human well-being.
Where to Start – A Three-Step Entry Point
Communities don’t need to overhaul their entire capital improvement plan overnight. Small, intentional steps can begin the shift toward a One Water mindset:
Identify overlaps – Look for upcoming water, wastewater, and stormwater projects that could be coordinated. Even simple alignment, like scheduling maintenance or construction in the same corridor, can reduce costs and minimize disruption.
Bring people together early – Convene staff from public works, planning, finance, environmental services, and other relevant departments. Early collaboration builds shared understanding, uncovers hidden opportunities, and helps establish a common language around integrated water management.
Test with a pilot project – Start small. A single corridor, neighborhood, or facility can serve as a demonstration. Pilot projects allow teams to experiment, measure outcomes, and show tangible benefits without the risk of a full-scale rollout.
These early efforts can demonstrate value, build momentum, and unlock funding for larger projects.
Looking Ahead
Once communities take those first steps, the next opportunity is to broaden the lens–looking beyond individual projects to see how every part of the water system connects and contributes to long-term resilience. Whether the challenge is melting snow, prolonged drought, or overburdened storm systems, communities benefit when they approach water as a shared resource.
Every drop is connected. Planning with that in mind can protect quality, control costs, and strengthen your community’s future.
About the Experts
TomEnnis has a background in environmental management that helps him integrate smart design and natural processes into whole-system projects. His work includes ecosystem restoration, sustainable stormwater, wastewater and water supply management, and site development efforts that connect watersheds, communities, and infrastructure. As a certified Envision sustainability rating system trainer, he teaches how environmental, social, and economic factors create resilient, One Water-centered solutions.
Emily Jennings, PE*, is a senior project engineer with a background in stormwater engineering and stormwater compliance projects, all connected to the broader One Water approach that treats every drop as part of a shared system. She is passionate about integrating science, collaboration, and innovation to help communities manage water more sustainably. She also enjoys bringing new ideas, diverse expertise, and a shared sense of purpose to every project.
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