Source water protection? There’s an app for that.

For municipal drinking water managers, protection of source water is a primary concern. Source water is the source or supply, out in the larger watershed, of the drinking water that is eventually delivered to customers. There are ways to proactively protect this source, including working with landowners to keep intact the forests and riparian areas alongside the network of rivers and streams in the watershed. The natural vegetation serves as a significant buffer for water quality.

Read on how our technology in the form of the StreamBank Monitoring App is helping drinking water utilities effectively assess and manage source water protection programs. This article was first published in Water Innovations magazine and on the web at Water Online, informational resources for the professional water and wastewater treatment industries.

Source Water Protection: There’s An App For That

In Oregon, a mobile toolkit helps promote healthy ecosystems and protect community drinking water.

To continue supplying high-quality drinking water to ratepayers, many municipal utilities are looking outside the box. Miles beyond the walls of their drinking water facilities, they are focusing on protecting the water supply at its source and discovering that new technology can play an increasingly important role in restoring the forests and streams within their service areas.

For example, the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) in Eugene, OR has spent the last four years working with a number of partners and landowners on a program to protect healthy riparian — or streamside — forests around its sole source of drinking water for more than 200,000 residents. EWEB’s Voluntary Incentives Program (VIP) focuses on protecting approximately 9,500 acres of riparian forestlands along the McKenzie River and its tributaries.

Under the VIP, landowners with property in the area that meets specific standards for ecologically-functional riparian areas can qualify to receive annual payments and other incentives in return for long-term protection agreements…

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