Water use in the United States requires vast amounts of energy, resulting in considerable greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Understanding the energy and carbon implications of water use can inform resource management and policy decisions in important ways

The tools described in this guidebook are designed to help you understand the energy intensity of your community’s water system and which types of water-oriented strategies you should employ so that you can begin saving energy by saving water. Five of the tools featured in this guidebook were developed by River Network, while six were created by other organizations.

By using this toolkit, we hope you gain a better understanding of the energy that can be saved by saving water, and that the tools help you communicate the potential to fight global warming through water conservation, efficiency, reuse and low impact development in your community.