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Goals and Mission

Savingwater.org is sponsored by the Saving Water Partnership, a group of 19 local water utilities who collaborate to provide water conservation programs to their customers in Seattle and King County.

Conserving water helps manage the impact of growth on the region’s drinking water supplies and will keep more water in our mountain rivers for salmon, for wildlife, and for future generations. Conserving water is an integral part of our commitment to wise management of natural resources.

Thanks to the efforts of residential, commercial and institutional customers, regional water consumption is as low as it was in the late 1950’s, even though our population has grown by more than eighty percent. The goal of the regional water conservation program for 2013-2018 is to reduce per capita water use from current levels so that the total average annual retail water use of the members of the Saving Water Partnership is less than 105 million gallons a day (MGD) from 2013 through 2018 despite forecasted population growth. For more information, please see the program Annual Report.

Our Water Supply System

Seattle’s Regional Water System serves over 1.3 million people including customers in the City of Seattle and 22 other cities and utility districts that provide water. These water providers, also called purveyors, typically have their own storage and distribution systems.

Two watershed sources provide the majority of water for the system. About 70% is provided by the Cedar River Watershed. The remaining 30% comes from the Tolt River Watershed (29%) and wells at the Highline Wellfield (1%). From these sources, water travels by large pipelines to neighborhood storage areas and then on to home, business and institutional users where it is monitored and measured by water meters. Water is cleaned, treated and continually tested as it travels through the system to ensure that it is of the highest quality.

Water demand varies, depending on seasonal weather conditions. Summer and early fall months are typically times when the greatest amount of water is used, primarily for irrigation. The system provides an average of 160 million gallons per day (MGD) for the region.

Current Water Supply Status

Water supply conditions are normal. Please visit Seattle Public Utilities’ Water Supply website for more information and regular updates.

Annual Reports

These reports discuss the strategies and programs used to reduce the demand for water, now and in the future. They were developed with the help of suburban cities and water districts that comprise the Saving Water Partnership. All files are in PDF format.

2017 Annual Report

Past Reports

 

Saving Water Partners