Creating a Resilient Water Supply Future

ERG is a national leader in addressing the varied and complex water-related challenges facing communities across the country, including the availability of clean and safe water resources. To tackle such issues, we work at national, regional, and local levels and bring together multi-disciplinary teams from across our service areas: Water Quality and Infrastructure, Drinking Water and Infrastructure, Resilience Solutions, Ecological Services, Public Health, Life Cycle Services, Strategic Communications, and others. Recognizing water as essential to life, ERG is committed to creating integrated solutions that are effective now and sustainable for the future.

We are helping solve multiple water resource challenges with organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, state regulatory agencies (e.g., Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, Virginia), and others.

Below are examples of how our team is working to deliver impactful results:

• Water Reuse Program and Policy Support – In partnership with EPA and over 140 organizations, ERG has been instrumental in developing the National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP), providing ongoing support for its implementation since 2020 to advance reuse within an integrated water management framework. We are also supporting multiple states on their regulations and policies to enable the reuse of treated wastewater effluent for beneficial purposes.
• Water Efficiency Market Transformation – For more than two decades, ERG has played a critical role in EPA’s WaterSense program, fostering the creation of water-saving technologies and consumer products to help conserve America’s water resources. ERG’s technical, communications, and partnership support for WaterSense has helped result in over 1.5 trillion gallons of water saved since 2006.
• Adaptable Reservoir Management – For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of California, ERG has helped develop and roll out an innovative resilience strategy called “Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations” (FIRO). FIRO uses precipitation forecasts to flexibly manage reservoirs, releasing water before floods and holding water to mitigate droughts.
• Assistance for Small Communities – ERG is supporting EPA on a technical assistance program that connects communities with tools and resources to pinpoint water and wastewater issues, devise action plans, enhance their technical, financial, and managerial capacity, and access funding for water infrastructure projects.
• Water Workforce Support – For the State of New Mexico, ERG developed and is helping implement an initiative to expand the pool of trained water operators, bolstering the state’s capacity to consistently provide clean water.
• Convening Experts and Innovators – ERG has supported numerous expert convenings to advance knowledge and actions to help secure our nation’s water resources. Examples include the annual “State Summit on Water Reuse,” involving over 20 states; the “Onsite Water Reuse Summit,” including policymakers, technologists, and implementers from the across the country; the “Global Dialogue on Water Reuse” with representatives from over a dozen countries; and convenings on innovation in surface water permitting.