Strengthening Urban-Rural Connections: 20 Ways Cities and Water Utilities Can Pay for Water Quality Improvements on Farms

America’s cities, towns, public water utilities, and private companies have been working to clean up water pollution so that water is safe to drink, lakes are safe to swim in, and our ecosystems are healthy. In many parts of the country, we still have a long way to go.

While new technologies and time-tested treatment facilities will continue to be the principle strategy to address much of that pollution, new opportunities and momentum have appeared that expand the use of natural and watershed-scale activities to meet some of our water quality goals. Planting trees reduces pollution. A rooftop of plants on an urban skyscraper soaks up stormwater. A farm with carefully planted buffers on the downhill side of a corn field filters runoff.

This report summarizes twenty (20) funding mechanisms, financing (borrowing) mechanisms and procurement approaches that are in use across the country and allow cities, utilities and industry to finance effective natural and watershed-scale water quality practices.

The full report can be accessed here.