The Source Protection Handbook

The Source Protection Handbook: Using Land Conservation to Protect Local Drinking Water Supplies is based in part on the scientific, economic, and public health justifications for land conservation as a critical strategy for protecting America's drinking water sources and recharge lands. The handbook also relies heavily on best practices and case studies from organizations such as The Trust for Public Land and communities across America.

The handbook provides resources to help a community both make the case for land conservation and also go about actually conserving those lands. How-to sections include:

• Understanding your watershed
• Prioritizing land for protection
• Building strong partnerships and work watershed-side
• Designing a comprehensive source protection plan
• Protecting targeted land
• Financing the conservation of land
• Managing the land

In making the case for protecting drinking water sources, the report summarizes research about drinking water and public health, the costs of not protecting water sources, and the management of watersheds. The research is thoroughly detailed in Protecting the Source, a companion report released in early 2004.

Purchase The Source Protection Handbook