Public poll shows conservation, collaborative planning and reuse as top solutions

Organizers used Poll Everywhere to ask participants about priorities and possible solutions. "It looks like top solutions for this group: we've got water conservation, collaborative place-based water planning, water reuse and recycling, natural storage are the ones that are rising to the top here," said the facilitator, reflecting real-time results from more than a hundred attendees.

Participants also upvoted concerns about costs and funding to meet future water supply needs, the interplay of water rights, wells going dry and low summer streamflows. The poll included open-ended entries with case studies such as habitat restoration, metering and monitoring groundwater, irrigation automation and tiered utility rates. Ecology and the facilitation team said these inputs will be synthesized with other statewide engagement and included in the report to the governor to help prioritize which solutions are ripe for near-term action.

The organizers encouraged attendees to use the online survey and the interactive tool when it is released to provide further detail about where a proposed solution has worked and how scalable it might be. Poll results will be combined with roundtable summaries and the public survey to form the initiative's input package for agency consideration.