Texas Water

[ardamir]

With the state's population and economy growing, a lot of pressure is put on our water supplies. Be it surface or groundwater, Texas is at risk of "running out" of water. Some cities have taken the issue very serious like El Paso and San Antonio, both of which are adding water sources derived from brackish groundwater.

Here is an article from the Texas Tribune about how lawmakers view the issue:
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-en...options-texas/

[desertpunk]

El Paso: HUGE water issues.



-will expand later...

[ardamir]

No more water from the Rio Grande! Good thing city leaders were smart enough to be plan ahead and get their brackish desalination plant up and running.

You can also blame New Mexico for holding up a lot of the Rio Grande and Pecos. We had to take them to the Supreme Court before.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by ardamir

No more water from the Rio Grande! Good thing city leaders were smart enough to be plan ahead and get their brackish desalination plant up and running.

You can also blame New Mexico for holding up a lot of the Rio Grande and Pecos. We had to take them to the Supreme Court before.

There just isn't enough water for everybody in the Pecos basin because of the drought cycle. But there was illegal water diversion from the Pecos for years during more rainy cycles. Texas sued to get the water back and put NM on notice that the behavior is being closely watched. Since the last settlement, Brantley Reservoir north of Carlsbad NM has been more tumbleweeds than boating paradise, which is ok because it was mainly intended for flood control.

El Paso's desalination effort amounts to a 25% increase in fresh water production per day. Another big push has been to reclaim and recycle water. The city also buys unused or brokered water rights from farms in the area. An attempt to tap large underground bolsons in Southern New Mexico was thwarted by the NM State Engineer in the 1980s.

The desalination plant, a joint effort between El Paso's water utility anfd Ft. Bliss:

image hosted on flickr

blissdesalination1 by Fort Bliss Garrison PAO, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

blissdesalination2 by Fort Bliss Garrison PAO, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

IMG_2791 by bubbaofthebubbles, on Flickr

[ardamir]

Here is proof that conservation is a cost effective approach:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/201...ation-success/

The Conservation Department at SAWS has done some amazing things.

[ardamir]

SAWS is also building a brackish desal plant in southern Bexar County. They tried to get groundwater, including brackish, from other counties but was blocked by local resistance.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...alination.html