One Water, also known as integrated water management, is an approach that not only helps the environment and makes a community more resilient but also helps utilities to manage their bottom line. “It’s a great tool to get rid of the things you shouldn’t be concentrating on and targeting your investment where it’s needed,” Elliott Gill, technical director of water and wastewater for CH2M, told a full session on One Water at the Water Environment Federal Technical Exhibition and Conference, in Chicago in early October. Gill was one of about eight presenters at a session that delved into everything from the modeling of One Water approaches to the politics of such an approach.
The concept of integrated water management has existed for decades. An entire water system—stormwater, flood-control, drinking-water, wastewater, groundwater and other elements affecting the water system—is viewed holistically. Denver issued its first integrated water management plan in 1997. But with less money and, in some cases, less water, more utilities are considering the One Water approach.