The last few days have been all about conserving Texas water. First, there was the release of the National Wildlife Federation/Sierra Club report on Monday. Then, on Tuesday I went to not one, but two meetings about how Texans can save water and use it more wisely.  The trend tells me that Texans are finally waking up to the fact that water is finite, and aggressive water conservation is in order.

House Natural Resources Interim Hearing

The first event I attended was the House Natural Resources (HNR) interim hearing in San Antonio. It was great to be in my hometown talking about saving water.  (If I could have fit in some Mexican food it would have been a perfect day!)

The topic of the hearing was Interim Charge Number 3, which includes recycled water resources, desalination projects, initiatives to promote water conservation and drought contingency. 

For those who may not be familiar, in-depth studies of important issues often are conducted between sessions, or the interim, because the legislature is only in session every two years for 180 days.  Each committee receives interim charges, which are a list of important topics to prepare the committee for potential legislation.  Information gathering is usually done through a series of public hearings with both public and invited testimony on the topics.  In the end, a report is written with their findings.

The San Antonio hearing featured testimony from the cities of San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso and Tarrant Regional Water District, and Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club director Ken Kramer, among others. 

There were lots of great success stories. San Antonio stated that they stabilized overall pumping, while adding considerable population. El Paso saved $400 million in infrastructure capital costs through conservation and reduced their peak day water use by 25%. 

Still, it was clear that much more work needs to be done and many cities do not have robust conservation plants or water reuse programs.

 Austin’s Citizen Conservation Task Force

Speaking of work to be done, I also attended a public meeting in Austin Tuesday evening to review the work of the Citizen’s Conservation Task Force, of which I was a designated participant.  The 60-page report was the result of a city resolution passed in August 2009, intended to produce a policy document recommending conservation measures to reduce water use beyond the planned measures. There are some great recommendations, including a per capita per day goal of 140 gallons by 2020, which would get Austin to the state recommended goal!

This document is now open for public comment. Thoughts can be sent to waterco@ci.austin.tx.us, so please send the task force your comments.

 There is a good reason why water conservation is being talked so much.  Texas water is for all of us and it is in short supply. Please help protect it.