Increasingly, water planners and communities are looking
to source water protection as a key to improving water
quality and decreasing treatment costs. The traditional
approach to water management involves treating water at
many stages to remove contaminants. The environmental
and economic costs of this strategy are high, particularly
as energy costs rise. A new paradigm is emerging, which
focuses on protecting the sources of vital drinking water
supplies from contamination in order to reduce or eliminate
the need for treatment. Healthy, resilient ecosystems help
purify and regulate water, thereby avoiding pollution entering
into waterways.