Water Conservation Ideas Offered for Texas Legislature
Using less water is the cheapest way to meet Texas’ long-term water needs. The state water plan envisions nearly a quarter of Texas’ future water supplies coming from conservation. So what could and should Texas lawmakers do to promote the idea of saving water?
This is a tricky question, because conservation is generally the domain of local authorities. The nature of water supplies varies tremendously from place to place. Some towns may have fairly stable reservoirs, while others draw from diminishing aquifers. So local groups maintain day-to-day management of their water supplies, including ordering restrictions at times of drought (as ...
Comments (7)
Wayne Mask
It presents even greater challenges for cities like Crockett, Texas, where the sale of water to our residents is a source of revenue for the city, to do other things like maintain fire and police departments, provide garbage pick up, keep a public library open and the like. We are torn between conserving water and selling water. A dry year means our residents will use more water to keep their lawns green, which translates to more money to repair streets. A wet year means revenue is down and city services could suffer. It's a balancing act, trying to maintain an attitude of smart water use during drought conditions versus a use all you want mentality when we are getting plenty rainfall. Wayne Mask, Mayor
Arthur M. Thomas IV via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think we shouldn't put foxes in charge of hen houses.
Jerry Andrews
Of course conservation has be a part of the solution. I hope the next article will discuss the other side of the coin, finding/developing new water sources. With more people coming and the potential for drought that lasts for a decade or longer (historically, that has happened) the reality is that using less water won't be enough. Look at Central Texas right now. How are things gonna look if we face 2 more years in a row of serious drought? The Highland lakes are already below 50%, so, they could start to look like West Texas lakes that are mere mudholes at this point. Yet, the LCRA still sells money to rice farmers so they can flood fields with billions of gallons of water. Texas is not a tropical rain forest and flooding fields is ludicrous under the current circumstances.
I think we have to make very difficult choices like telling farmers, sorry, find another way to make a living, and tell all major metropolitan areas that from now on, all newly developed land must be zeroscaped, and tell HOAs you must now use native plants only that are water sippers no more St Augustine grass....then, it is entirely possible and historically consistent that the Texas will have more drought and more and more places will be entirely out of water.
As for new sources, we know that bringing new reservoirs on line takes decades, is very expensive, and we have a Legis. that refuses to spend money. Something is going to give and it sure would be nice if our leadership would be proactive now, before it is too late.
Chuck Bloom via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Leave Austin permanently.
Cliff McSparran via Texas Tribune on Facebook
35 years ago, Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe encouraged us to take on this issue before it became a critical problem. We didn't, and now it's critical.
Dormand Long
It is obvious that Texas has inadequate water for even its current population, not to mention the tens of millions projected by planners to move here drawn by a ) central location, b ) absence of income taxes,
c ) good mobility for national business trips, d) a vastly favorable price advantage of natural gas for manufacturing vs, Asia, and e ) a vastly superior cycle time in product order deliveries.
This water challenge can be somewhat mitigated by implementing best practices management, utilizing solutions already proven to be effective elsewhere.
Some of the low-lying fruit includes:
a ) utilzing native Buffalo grass in residential lawns, parks and road right-of-ways, as has been used by Dallas' Baldrige winner Richland College for three decades at enormous savings,
b ) signaling fully known information on water consumption of plant varieties to enable better choices by farmers, golf courses, park management, highway managers, office complex managers and homeowners
c ) signal a clear and gradual movement of water pricing to its true market value to avoid current wasteful practices encouraged by cheap water,
d ) vigorously persue value engineering cost reduction in waste water recycling and desalination,
e ) utilize plastic inserts to limit profound leakage from antiquated water mains in cities
f ) encourage rainwater capture and reuse
g ) optimize graywater utilization for plant watering and other needs for which potable water is not required,
h) optimize wetlands water purification to lessen dependence upon chemical purification
i ) optimize escalating pricing on residential water use, with low cost for basic needs per square footage and tiered rapidly increasing tiered pricing for each incremental tier of water usage up to confiscatory levels for squanderers.
j) publicize heavily such over-the-top residential water users such as Tom Hicks and Harlan Crow.
k) discourage industrial users from locating in arid areas when plentiful water is available in East Texas.
l ) explore feasibility at various market price levels of importing water from areas with surplus water such Oklahoma, the Mississippi River ( excluding current drought ), Canada
m) follow very closely feasibility of Tampa and Middle East desalination, Santa Ana sewage reclamation, and the amazing ingenuity that is ubiquitous in Israel, where oases are created out of the desert.
The key need is to overcome the pervasive myopia of the Texas Legislature on this topic, as noted in the above comment on the wisdom of former governor Dolph Brisco.
We need to prepare everyone to stop thinking of water as a cheap commodity.
Candace Cee via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Perhaps the consciousness of citizens is high enough now. I was just reading "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." All concerned ought to read the section on Montana.