Natural Infrastructure for Water

While droughts, floods and increasingly rapid groundwater depletion are cause for concern, this year presents unprecedented opportunities to pursue better water management. Director of WRI's Global Water program Betsy Otto explains.

Deep roots, tree canopies and other "green" infrastructure can purify water, regulate stormwater runoff and reduce the impact of floods and droughts.

Recent extreme droughts and floods have forced an evaluation of how water infrastructure impacts other sectors, highlighting the need for a multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral approach to balance environmental, social and economic concerns against a backdrop of climate change.

A new online guide to water quality trading can help farms, utilities and other businesses cut pollution and restore U.S. waters to their swimmable, fishable best.

Nitin Pandit, CEO of WRI India, explains how limiting urban sprawl, investing in natural infrastructure and scaling up clean energy can create a better future for India.

Decision-makers oftentimes treat the services that ecosystems provide—like water filtration or flood protection—as a free benefit. A new issue brief can help them account for nature's full worth.

Securing clean water is becoming increasingly difficult in the United States. Infrastructure like dams and treatment plants are aging, water demand is increasing, and more frequent extreme weather events like wildfires and flooding are driving up the cost of water management.

It’s a complex problem, but one of the potential solutions is decidedly low-tech: Invest in nature.

In December 2010, over 50 U.S. natural resource practitioners and experts joined the Northern Forests Watershed Incentive Project’s second annual webinar, which provided an overview of the project and covered successes to date.