Environmental Water Requirements

Environmental Water Requirements, also known as Groundwater for Ecosystems, is founded on the concept that a balance can be achieved between groundwater left underground to support GDEs, and groundwater withdrawal for human uses. To find this balance, scientists and managers study the ecosystem to determine the following:

1. The amount and timing of groundwater flow required to support the species and ecosystem processes in the GDEs;
2. How groundwater flow into the GDEs will be altered under different withdrawal scenarios;
3. The amount or degree of ecological change expected at different levels of withdrawal; and
4. The acceptable level of change in ecological conditions and ecosystem function.

The Nature Conservancy is working with the USDA Forest Service to develop and test methods for setting Environmental Water Requirements. Click here to see an overview of the methods, and click here to see a fact sheet describing this approach.