The near-term prospect of declining freshwater supplies is a top worry for water utilities, according to a new study commissioned by the Water Research Foundation.

Increasing demand from agriculture and industry, uncertain climate variability, and the intrusion of contaminants and invasive species are also chief environmental concerns for the sector heading into the next two decades, the report says.

The study, "Forecasting the Future: Progress, Change and Predictions for the Water Sector," polled 20 national and international water utilities to identify the most significant changes and challenges facing the sector in the coming 10 to 20 years.

Selecting from about 40 trends highlighted by the study's authors, utilities ranked decreasing availability of water resources as the most important environmental trend affecting them in the near term. They also pegged it as the second most important trend overall, just behind the United States' economic crisis.

In that vision of the future, "high quality potable water supplies are less available due to uncertain adequacy of freshwater sources and growing challenges to water quality," the report notes.

Though water scarcity is a matter of significant concern for the sector as a whole, the degree to which utilities are affected by it will likely be region-specific, said Terry Brueck, president of the consultancy firm EMA Inc., who oversaw the report's assembly.

"It really does depend on where you are whether water scarcity is going to be an issue," he said. "In those areas that it is an issue, though, it can be No. 1 on their list."

That's already compelling many utilities to change the way they handle both fresh water and wastewater, he said, adding a new emphasis on recycling the resource in water-stressed regions.

Droughts help popularize the West's frugal approach

Though the study focused on future trends, water scarcity is already a major issue for many parts of the country. Recent droughts in Texas, Oklahoma and the southeastern United States, to say nothing of the 25-year record drought currently withering crops across the American breadbasket, have all tightened the screws on the nation's collective faucets.

That is changing the way water utilities do business, said Kent Zammit, senior program manager in water and ecosystems at the Electric Power Research Institute.

"As we see various watersheds get oversubscribed, and when junior water rights don't get fulfilled, everybody starts to notice," he said. "If you're looking at risk-to-investment capital, anywhere in the country, water availability is something you should consider.

"Even in regions where there's plenty of water today, we're seeing that start to change," he added. "We've seen tremendous drops in reservoirs in the Midwest and saltwater intrusion in Louisiana where the aquifers are being depleted. When you start having water troubles in Louisiana, you know you've got a problem."

The American West has been living with water shortages for decades, he said, compelling that region to invest heavily in strategies and technologies that allow water to be conserved and reused. Now, many utilities in historically water-rich regions are starting to adopt similar practices.

"There's been a change in how we manage water," Zammit said. "Most of the time we don't discharge wastewater into the ocean like we used to. Now the emphasis is on conservation -- on rerouting wastewater to ditches or other outflows" where it can seep into the ground, replenishing groundwater supplies, he said.