When the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona looked at water conservation in 2008, it examined what motivates people to save water, and discovered they often ask:  “Why should I conserve my water just so it can go toward enabling more development?”

That led the Center to develop a program called C2E (Conserve2Enhance) “as a way for people to make a more direct environmental impact in their own community.” C2E encourages consumers to take steps to conserve water–like upgrading to a low-flow toilet or installing a rainwater harvesting system–and then donate their savings to support the program. They can also check a donation box on their water bill. 

C2E then reinvests in conservation by providing grants for local environmental enhancement projects that beautify degraded land and restore damaged washes in urban neighborhoods. It is an innovative program that addresses a problem that has recently been flagged as one of the world’s largest challenges – the disruption of the natural water cycle.