The Ahwahnee Water Principles

In 2004,the Local Government Commission set out to identify effective,least-cost economically and politically viable options for sustainable water resources management at the local level. The LGC invited respected water resource policy, management and planning professionals – with experience at the federal,state and local levels – to craft a set of land use principles which would provide guidance to local officials and communities concerned about sustaining future water
supplies.

The process of developing the Ahwahnee Water Principles mirrored the LGC’s earlier Ahwahnee Principles for Resource-Efficient Communities, which were released in 1991.

The Ahwahnee Principles presented a blueprint for elected officials to create compact, mixed-use,walkable,transit-oriented developments in their local communities,and have since paved the way for growing
acceptance and inclusion of “smart growth”and the “New Urbanism”in local and regional land-use policies and practices.