Future-Proof Water for Silicon Valley

A landscape analysis of water supply and opportunities for resilience

Research

Silicon Valley’s historically reliable water supply has been essential to its growth. But the last four years of severe drought have revealed the region’s dependence on statewide water availability and heightened interest in resilience. Key water leaders in the region see sustained conservation and water recycling as the best sources for building water supply. The main challenges will be identifying cost-effective choices, assigning responsibilities to pay for new source development or more conservation, and clarifying or changing regulations to permit innovation and attract investment. To assist these efforts, this paper reviews and updates the data used in our 2013 Bay Area-wide report Future-Proof Water for San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. We offer an analysis of these data and highlight potential areas of interest for future research and partnerships.