Premium
The Role of “Water Offsets” in Water Stewardship Certification
Author(s) -
Larson Wendy,
Richter Brian
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2009.tb09828.x
Subject(s) - stewardship (theology) , sustainability , certification , water scarcity , environmental science , offset (computer science) , business , environmental resource management , environmental planning , water resources , water use , environmental economics , natural resource economics , computer science , political science , economics , ecology , politics , law , programming language , biology
This article begins by providing a brief overview of the water scarcity challenge as a problem of sustainability, maintaining steady growth in living standards while continuing to serve the needs of the community that can only be met by clean and ample water resources and the services they provide. The evolving concept of “water offsets” is presented and described as activities that “neutralize” the hydrologic effects of water use. Examples of water offset are provided, along with methods that are currently being explored to quantify water offsets.