But today in the US, decreasing government funds and increasing environmental awareness have conspired against a costly, environmentally destructive engineering approach to water management. Still, few communities have matched the water wisdom of Ashland, Oregon, which rejected a dam proposal in favor of conservation. In 1981, Ashland learned that it might lose water rights from a local irrigation district. The city began the search for new sources of water. Wanderscheid approached the Public Works Department with a plan to find the missing water through conservation.
Conservation is a new concept for engineers.
They're used to building dams. Ashland now saves 300,000 gallons a day. Wanderscheid says the other 200,000 will come as citizens replace their old toilets and showerheads.