Walks through how to use the tool to search for and gather the data needed to plan for potential rainwater harvesting and condensate capture projects.
Federal Energy Management Program
September 16, 2026
Estimated Read Time min
This guide provides information on how to use the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Alternative Water Supply Tool to search for and gather the data needed to plan for potential rainwater harvesting and condensate capture projects.
Note: The location of items on the screen may differ depending on the browser and device used to access this tool.
Moving the Map: You can pan across the map by clicking and dragging the screen and zoom in and out with your mouse wheel or trackpad's vertical scrolling feature. The "+" and "-" buttons can also be used to zoom in and out.
Home: Resets the map to show all 50 states.
Orientation: Resets the map orientation to the default.
Legend Description: Found on the left-hand side, this feature enables a slide out that provides the definitions of the map color schemes of the layers:
- Rainwater Regulations
- Rainwater Harvest Potential
- Rainwater Harvest Potential for Irrigation
- Condensate Capture Potential
Click the arrow to open and close.
Selection: Click the black down arrow for selection tool options. Click the selection icon again to return to navigation.
Clear Selection: Clears the current selections.
LayerList: Allows the user to show or hide layers of the map including state boundaries, ZIP code boundaries, county boundaries, rainwater harvesting and condensate capture layers. Additionally, by clicking the ellipses to the right of a layer, you can change some of the basic interactivity of each of the layers to suit your usage style. For example, each layer is set to a default of 25% transparency. Selecting Opacity will allow the user to adjust this value to suit their preference. Please note that when adjusting transparency of multiple layers, colors may be affected and not entirely match the legend.
Legend: Shows the key to the map color scheme for each layer that is currently visible on the screen. To turn on more layers, go to the Layer List tool described above.
Bookmark: Saves a current view of the map to easily return to later. When creating a bookmark, the user will have the option to name the bookmark. If browser cookies are enabled, the bookmarks can be saved. The user may then have the option to return to previous views upon returning to the map in a new browser tab.
How-To Guide: Provides information on how to use the tool (this content).
Search Bar: Allows the user to search by ZIP code, city, state, county, or geographic features (e.g., Yosemite National Park, California).
Basemap Gallery: Provides the user the option of changing the base map to different views such as including streets, geographic terrain, and structures. These are standard ready-to-use digital backgrounds.
Measure: Measures linear distances or area on the map.
The data table view of the tool results is at the bottom screen. By default, the table only shows results in the current view of the map. There are three data sets to choose from at the top of the table view: (1) State Rainwater Harvesting Regulations, (2) Rainwater Harvest Potential, and (3) Rainwater Harvest Potential for Irrigation. Go to the Help Guide to learn about these data options.
Show Selection: Click to see only selected map layer items in the table.
Clear Selection: Clears selected map layer items in the view and table.
Refresh: Refreshes table.
Show/Hide Columns: Ability to show or hide table columns.
Actions: Allows user to download the table data as a CSV file.