million gallons of drinkable water produced by 2022 in Sioux Falls,” Aimee said. The plan also suggests the city “decrease green house gas emissions from city government activities by 50 percent by 2017, from a 2008 baseline,” she said, and “to reduce fuel consumption by the City’s heavy duty diesel vehicles by 10 percent by 2015 and light duty vehicles by 20 percent by 2015. “Many of our departments are already providing and building impressive and innovative sustainable services, but we have previously lacked a single framework under which to measure and communicate our progress,” she said. Besides affecting city government, the plan could end up affecting citizens in several ways. Some of the goals will be easy to implement, Aimee said, but “others will need to be further vetted in committees and among members of the public,” she said, requiring more public input. Eventually, some of the recommendations in the plan may lead to changes in city ordinances, requiring formal processes such as city council votes. “We have felt a strong push from the citizens of Sioux Falls for increased leadership in sustainability,” Aimee said, “and this plan helps advance key programs in that effort.” The Sioux Falls Sustainability Master Plan allows the city to “identify the biggest challenges and focus on the most cost-effective, attainable goals that maximize benefits for our economy, our community and our environment,” she said. A copy of the draft plan can be found by visiting their website at www.siouxfalls.org/green. SFW
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