New Water Center Aims to Help With State’s Struggles
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A coalition of Texas institutions announced a new water conservation and technology center today. It’s a group effort, headed by Texas AgriLife Research, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Engineering Experiment Station, and Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
Dr. Neal Wilkins, the director of the Texas Water Resources Institute, hopes that the new center will put the development of new technologies on the fast track to solving the state’s evolving water challenges.
“The center will accelerate the development and adoption of new and innovative technologies to solve emerging water problems and meet future water supply needs,” he said in a statement.
Researchers at the center will target four research areas: water conservation, water reuse, groundwater desalination, and energy development.
Among some of the first issues on the table is the link between energy development and water use. “We want to see economic development via energy resource exploration continue but in an environmentally friendly manner,” Skip Mills, the Director of the San Antonio Texas Center for Applied Technology, told StateImpact Texas.
The center wants to help better connect industry, state and federal agencies, municipalities, trade associations, and other research institutions on water issues.
