Texas Lawmakers Mull Water Options for State
Texas needs to plan better for droughts, including exploring the expensive process of desalination, experts testified Thursday in Austin before a receptive House Natural Resources Committee.
"This is the biggest threat we have to our economy right now," said state Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, speaking about water supplies. In 2011, he added, "the bell went off, and either we're going to do something or we're not."
Ken Kramer, the head of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said that as a first priority, Texans need to "maximize effective use of existing resources," including some tougher ...
Comments (11)
George W. Reamy via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Let's hope nobody's making money off of the way things are done now.
Jamie Lewis via Texas Tribune on Facebook
of course they are- and have been trying to change laws to allow more as "owners" of what should be a damn public resource managed for the good of ALL. painful for SA, i'm sure, but truly how we should live.
Rick Scott McGuckin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
selling town water in a drought, wtf?
Adam W Vanek via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@ George - T. Boone Pickens. He is buying most of the water rights in West Texas hoping to build a pipeline to Dallas. That is why Dallas' recent efforts to build a new reservoir in East Texas have been shot down in the legislature and the courts.
Jim Vance
Becky Motal: "With low energy prices right now..."
What planet is she living on?
The most effective thing this State could do to plan for its future would be to truly integrate the disparate socioeconomic and technical forecasting procedures which are used in water and metropolitan transportation planning and establish a consistent, transparent and comprehensive basis for making decisions about where geographic demand and supply (of both types of infrastructure) will likely occur in both the short- and long-term futures. What exists today is a patchwork joke with little or no consistency at local or regional geographic levels, regardless of whatever the State's official demographic forecasts might reflect.
Water planning is undertaken for a 50-year horizon and metropolitan transportation planning for a 20-year horizon, yet both are predicated upon spatial demand assumptions rendered obsolete within just 1-2 years due to the insider development games at every local level (in which most State leaders and their cronies are neck-deep), any planning effort is doomed to failure. The inevitable shortfall outcome produced in every such effort at metropolitan and watershed levels simply reinforces a longstanding pattern of scaremongering propaganda to gain public approvals for some infrastructure scheme surreptitiously intended to stimulate and support induced growth into new development areas where the various cronies are well-positioned. More realistic and honest planning efforts built around the very real interactive land-development/transportation and water demand issues involved in providing for future growth in population and employment throughout the major metropolitan areas is desperately needed, but unlikely to occur because of the politically corrupted system which has long existed in Texas.
Underwriting the next game phase with action plans and funding through voter approval sustains a longstanding process of recycling the downstream economic gains by those so favored into political contributions and even greater influence, and it's the true objective underlying these formal planning charades regardless of anything else which might be presented to the public.
Julie Benningfield via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Just about too little too late - this is going to be a nightmare because nobody paid enough attention. It doesn't just affect Texas either- it's the entire Southwest.
Julie Benningfield via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Also, dumping treated drinking water on the grass is just stupidity at this point.
Michael Miranda
I say double the number of reservoirs we currently have but build the dams so they also provide hydroelectric power. That way we kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
gypsy314 ne
We all know floods hapeen in certain areas every now and then we should build reserves to hold the flood water and then pipeline it to areas were drought is or could happen. Hell we could turn a desert into a garden if we wanted to BUT to liberals stand in the way of anything that could produce a job and stop supporting Government from selling flood insurance.
Face our only hope is to send all democrats packing and let republicans fix this mess the democrats have Americans in.
Anyone BUT Obama and democrats!
Jerry Andrews
Time to do away with the rule of capture in water rights and to review water use policy, especially in Central Texas. Right now, if water is on or under your land, you can take it all and ship it to China and no one can say boo about it. This is a critical and ancient law that needs changing in West Texas and the Panhandle. Otherwise, the aquifers that take decades to recharge can be, are, and will be drained until they are no longer useful. Then want?
Second, why can rice farmers, cat fish raisers, etc. get access to all the LRCA water they want, even though every Highland lake from Buchanan to Travis is less than 1/2 full? This is a limited, precious, natural resource and we shouldn't enable and encourage water wasting industries to do so in Texas.
Peter P
Maybe the Natural Resources Committee need to look at other options to RO desalination that is an expensive exercise. I've been hearing lots about the self powered solution by CLLEEN Water and POwer for water desalination and the guy who invented it is from Texas. I do hope they're looking at that option for desalination. Kills two birds with one stone, fixes the lack of water problem and nil energy use. Seems like a no brainer to me!