By Jessie Israel, Puget Sound Conservation Director
A Water 100 Project Executive Summit on Sept. 21 brought together leaders from many business sectors to brainstorm about the “regeneration” of Puget Sound and filling a well-documented innovation gap in the water sector.
The Water 100 Project, an initiative of the Puget Sound Partnership and The Nature Conservancy, is a new way to seek solutions for Puget Sound’s water quality problems. This initiative includes scientists, engineers and policymakers working together to identify the 100 most substantive solutions for a clean and resilient Puget Sound. Together, we are looking to integrate the resources and speed of the private sector to take meaningful action toward a water resilient future.
We were inspired in this new approach by Project Drawdown, created by Paul Hawken in 2017 as he was seeking meaningful action on climate change. In 2017, the global climate crisis pressed Hawken to create Project Drawdown, identifying the most substantive solutions to reverse global warming and communicating them to the world. He sought to create a simple, comprehensive plan that invited action from all sectors – public, private and government - Project Drawdown has subsequently blossomed into a global effort, influencing research, city climate plans, corporate commitments, community action and broader philanthropic strategies around the world.
This approach inspired the Water 100 Project.
Paul Hawken offered a keynote address to ground the group’s discussion which centered on learning from climate progress, making work engageable to a broad audience, setting unreasonable goals for ourselves and grounding all our work in social justice.
“The Water crisis and the Climate crisis are kith and kin…If we want to address future existential threats, we have to address current human need. Not an imagined future - as accurately as that may be projected by science. If we want to get attention from the bulk of humanity, humanity needs to feel it is getting attention. And to address extraordinary threats – like global warming - we have to create a world that is worth saving. Let’s be honest for most people now, they’re not getting that. They are not seeing that. They are not feeling that. We are very privileged in where we work and where we live. We have to understand that is not how the rest of the world sees and experiences the world. If we’re not serving our children, the poor, the excluded, the disenfranchised, then we are not addressing this crisis. We are not. If fundamental human rights are not met, our efforts will fail. The idea that social justice is a sideshow to this emergency is completely wrong. Social injustice is the cause of the emergency. That’s where regeneration comes in. It’s about abundance. It’s about more. A world that is there for us. This is a world that is worth saving. This is a world that saves us. This is not about stopping things. It’s about starting things – an extraordinary world.”
“If we want to address future existential threats, we have to address current human need,” Paul Hawken told leaders assembled for the Water 100 Project summit. © istock
No one solution will solve Puget Sound’s water challenges, just as no one solution will solve climate change. The Water 100 Project intends to jump-start a clean water economy in Washington and rapidly test innovative solutions to problems of managing water globally. Like Project Drawdown, the Water 100 Project advocates for a performance-driven approach to water quality, invites engagement and works to bridge the innovation gap.
What Makes the Water 100 Project Different?
Each solution uses a positive, action-oriented framing, focusing on the intended outcome of a clean and resilient Puget Sound, rather than on restrictions or prohibitions. The Water 100 Project list offers a menu of options where strategic engagement could change the course of our shared future.
To keep pace with the urgency of these issues, we are pulling together a team to work on two running tracks:
TRACK 1: BUILD & RANK THE LIST, “Do The Water Math”. In fall 2019, The Nature Conservancy and Puget Sound Partnership convened a group of scientific experts, engineers and conservation practitioners. Together, they generated a list of 100-plus solutions which will be further refined by experts from around the country. Work has now begun to develop a methodology to model and rank the impact of these solutions – borrowing expertise from engineering, performance management, life cycle assessment and water foot printing. When carbon foot printing was developed in the 1990s, it laid the groundwork to mainstream net zero carbon conversations. Water foot printing covers both water quality and quantity but is much further behind in its mainstream use. This initial ‘Water 100 List’ will provide the basis for determining the top 100 most substantive and effective solutions for a clean and resilient Puget Sound.
TRACK 2: PILOT INNOVATIVE APPROACHES. COLLECT DATA. CELEBRATE WINS. Engage the business community to develop, test and deploy some of the highest-impact solutions and enabling technologies that could make them cost-effective. Capture and communicate performance and financial information about each solution to inform broader learning. A website, water100project.org, provides a place for updates to be shared in real time and to highlight corporate led case stories.
Some of our region’s leading corporations are already engaged:
Janicki Industries, aerospace innovators from Sedro-Wooley, spun off a new company called Sedron Technologies to create machines that turn human and dairy waste into clean water.
Developer Stephen C. Grey and Associates launched a collaboration with Clean Lake Union and Center of the Universe, LLC to incorporate stormwater treatment for a public highway into its building design near the Aurora Bridge.
Vulcan Real Estate is transforming their construction practices and building operations through Salmon-Safe certified development.
Boeing is partnering with the WSU Washington Stormwater Center to study permeable paving that helps remove pollutants from surface water as it soaks into the ground, preventing those chemicals from reaching waterways like Puget Sound.
Microsoft amplified the next step of its sustainability strategy: to be water positive by 2030 through reducing water use intensity and replenishing more water than it uses on a global basis in the areas that need it most.
I hope you’ll join us in the Water 100 Project.
You can also learn about how this work fits into a global Water Resilience Coalition. All oceans are connected. What we learn and implement here can have a global impact.
Banner image is a visual illustration of the Water 100 Summit by Emma Ruffin/TNC
