Smart Growth America

CONTACT:
Betsy Otto, American Rivers, (202) 347-7550 ext. 3033
Deron Lovaas, Natural Resources Defense Council, (202) 289-2384
John Bailey, Smart Growth America, (202) 974-5157

Report: Sprawl compounds water crisis in drought-stricken cities
Full report, Q&A, photos, and estimated water losses in 18 cities now available online at www.americanrivers.org

(Washington, DC) – Sprawl development is making the nation’s drought even more painful by impairing the landscape’s ability to recharge aquifers and surface waters, according to a new report released today by American Rivers, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Smart Growth America. Nationwide, paved-over land sends billions of gallons of water into streams and rivers as polluted runoff, rather than into the soil to replenish groundwater. This groundbreaking report, Paving the Way to Water Shortages: How Sprawl Aggravates the Effects of Drought, estimates the extent of this phenomenon in 18 rapidly growing cities. The authors urge communities to adopt “smart growth” policies to reign in sprawl and protect water supplies and watersheds into the future.

“Sprawl development is literally sending billions of gallons of badly needed water down the drain each year…the storm drain,” said Betsy Otto, senior director for watershed programs at American Rivers. “Sprawl hasn’t caused this year’s drought, but sprawl is making water supply problems worse in many cities.”

The authors estimate that in Atlanta, the nation’s most rapidly sprawling metropolitan area, recent sprawl development sends an additional 57 billion to 133 billion gallons of polluted runoff pour into streams and rivers each year. This water would have otherwise filtered through the soil to recharge aquifers and provide underground flows to rivers, streams and lakes. The report gives the first estimates of groundwater losses due to sprawl development in the 1980s and 1990s. A table of estimates for 18 of the nation’s most land-consuming metro areas follows below.

The implication of this phenomenon is tremendous – but the actual impacts on the public’s water use vary from city to city. On average, 40 percent of Americans get their water directly from underground sources across the country. Groundwater also supplies, on average, 50 percent of the water in the rivers and lakes that serve everyone else.

“As over-development washes more rainwater away instead of replenishing the water table, drought conditions get worse,” said Deron Lovaas, deputy director of the smart growth program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Sprawl is hanging us out to dry. Smart growth is a way to ease our water crisis.”

Sprawling land development – characterized by strip malls and highway-dependent residential, commercial, and office developments -- is gobbling up the American countryside at an alarming rate. Government figures suggest that 365 acres of forest, farmland, and other open space succumb to sprawl per hour. In most communities the amount of developed land is growing much faster than the population.

The authors conclude that the link between sprawl and drought needs to be examined more closely. The report’s results suggest that policies to promote “smart growth” and low-impact development techniques are needed to ensure adequate water supplies and to protect aquatic resources into the future.

“By investing wisely in places we live, we can both protect our environment and improve our quality of life,” said John Bailey, associate director of Smart Growth America.

The three organizations called for more money for scientific study to determine more precisely the extent of sprawl’s impact on water resources and watersheds. In addition, the report presents a series of policy recommendations that are consistent with the principles generally known as “Smart Growth.” The authors conclude that strengthening regional cooperation on planning and concentrating development in already urbanized areas can protect water supplies by slowing the development of open space and containing the spread of impervious surfaces.

Sprawl’s impacts on water resources and watersheds

Metropolitan Area [1]	Acres Developed	Impervious Acres at:		Avg. Yearly Infiltration Loss
	*(1982 -1997) [2]*	*15% Imperv.*	*35%* *Imperv.*	*(billions of gallons of water) [3]*
Atlanta, GA	609,500	91,425	213,325	56.9 to 132.8
Boston-Brocton-Nashua, MA – NH	433,000	64,950	151,550	43.9 to 102.5
Washington, DC	343,300	51,495	120,155	23.8 to 55.6
Dallas, TX	302,400	45,360	105,840	6.2 to 14.4
Houston, TX	291,400	43,710	101,990	12.8 to 29.8
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI	286,100	42,915	100,135	9.0 to 21.1
Chicago, IL	250,000	37,500	87,500	10.2 to 23.7
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC - SC	246,200	36,930	86,170	13.5 to 31.5
Philadelphia, PA-NJ	238,800	35,820	83,580	25.3 to 59.0
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA	232,500			Model does not apply*
Orlando, FL	222,600	33,390	77,910	9.2 to 21.5
Nashville, TN	216,000	32,400	75,600	17.3 to 40.5
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	207,000	31,050	72,450	9.4 to 21.9
Pittsburgh, PA	201,800	30,270	70,630	13.5 to 31.5
Tampa-St. Petersburg- Clearwater, FL	199,800	29,970	69,930	7.3 to 17.0
Detroit, MI	187,200	28,080	65,520	7.8 to 18.2
Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC	166,300	24,945	58,205	12.7 to 29.5
Greensboro-Winston-Salem-Highpoint, NC	148,100	22,215	51,835	6.7 to 15.7
Phoenix-Mesa, AZ	145,600	21,840	50,960	Model does not apply*
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA	141,000	21,150	49,350	10.5 to 24.6

Estimates of groundwater infiltration lost to imperviousness show that billions of gallons of water are no longer recharging aquifers and surface waters. This chart depicts the effect of large amounts of new development and various levels of imperviousness across the Top 20 most land-consuming metro areas. Relative infiltration losses are the result of a combination of factors, including amount of land consumed, average annual precipitation, local climate, topography and other factors according to USGS regional groundwater data.

*(Note: The model does not apply to metro areas in arid regions because low rainfall and very high rates of evaporation remove much of the available rainfall before it infiltrates and replenishes groundwater. For a detailed explanation of how the figures in the table were calculated, please see the Appendix to the report.)

[1] Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas as defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in guidance effective June 30, 1999 (OMB Bulletin 99-04). Northeastern County Metropolitan Areas are based on townships and were defined in the same OMB memorandum.

[2] Source: United States Natural Resources Inventory, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1997 (revised December 2000). Available at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/NRI/1997/.

[3] Gallons of lost infiltration of rainwater, rounded to the nearest 1/10 billion gallons. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the average American uses between 80 to 100 gallons of water every day. Using 100 gallons per day, a billion gallons of water per year would be enough to fulfill the daily usage of approximately 27,397 people.

Sprawl’s impacts on water resources and watersheds

Impervious Acres at: