What If People Were Paid to Use Less Water?

From Sao Paulo and Cape Town to Beijing and San Diego, water demand in cities around the world is outstripping supply. Urbanization, developing economies, and shifting precipitation patterns are some of the causes, all with the same result: diminishing water availability in cities all over the world. We need a global rethink, one that starts with turning markets upside down.

A group of university and private partners is working with two water utilities, one in Sonoma, California, and the other in Marrakesh, Morocco, to pioneer a new approach, based on rewarding conservation, rather than charging for consumption. Water markets are hardly new. Farmers trade water in Chile, Australia, and California—revealing the worth of this liquid asset. These markets encourage conservation and ensure that water flows to its highest value crop, whether berry, dairy, barley, or wine. If this is true for farmers, why would it be any different for cities?