RECOMMENDATION: Practice Sound Growth Management

States and regions should manage growth in a sensible manner, with particular attention to how development impacts water supplies. Growth management comes in a variety of forms, such as comprehensive state growth management legislation, smart growth incentives, and urban growth boundaries. State legislation appears to be gaining popularity. To date, eleven states have enacted statewide standards for sensible land use planning and implementation.

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VIDEO: What Is Sprawl And Why Is It Making The Drought Worse?

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As of 1997, only two states included water supply or recharge measures in their planning statutes. However, the California legislature recently enacted two laws that place the burden on land developers to find adequate water supplies, the first of which prohibits approval of subdivision maps, parcel maps or development agreements for subdivisions with more than 500 units unless there is a “sufficient water supply.” The second requires cities and counties to prepare detailed “water supply assessment reports” in the environmental review process for large development projects.

Some other states focus on channeling resources to existing communities, rather than subsidizing sprawl. The best-known example is Maryland’s 1997 Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation initiative, which requires all counties to designate priority funding areas (PFAs) which are then favored to receive state infrastructure investments, such as roads and schools. Some localities achieve the same thing by designating growth areas that are eligible for water, sewer, transportation and other services. This is hardly a new practice – Fayette County, Kentucky, which includes Lexington, for example, has had designated growth areas since the 1950s.

Another effective approach is the establishment of urban growth boundaries, which are regional agreements on where growth should and should not occur. The best-known example is the one surrounding Portland, Oregon, which is credited with preventing leapfrog development, enhancing quality of life, and protecting valuable open spaces.