{"id":23807,"date":"2013-02-05T17:02:34","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T23:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=23807"},"modified":"2013-11-04T11:32:31","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T17:32:31","slug":"finding-water-amid-drought-legislature-considers-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/02\/05\/finding-water-amid-drought-legislature-considers-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Water Amid Drought: Legislature Considers Options"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_23824\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/02\/05\/finding-water-amid-drought-legislature-considers-options\/img_1981\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-23824\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23824\" title=\"IMG_1981\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/02\/IMG_1981-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/02\/IMG_1981-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/02\/IMG_1981-620x465.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/02\/IMG_1981.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo by Mose Buchele\/StateImpact Texas<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texas lawmakers are looking beyond just reservoirs to find water for a thirsty, growing state.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>John Nielson-Gammon, Texas\u2019 <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/08\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-texas-climatoligist\/\">State Climatologist<\/a>, offered a grim forecast to kick off a joint House and Senate Natural Resources Committee meeting today at the Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s still a good chance <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/tag\/drought\/\">this will end up being the <\/a>drought of record for most of the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Several officials from state agencies involved with Texas\u2019 water testified at the meeting, and almost all of them found common ground in their concern for conservation and the development of new technologies, such as reuse, to increase the state\u2019s water reserves.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/11\/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-state-water-plan\/\">5 Things You Might Not Know About the State Water Plan<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/16\/how-new-texas-water-supplies-could-help-both-farmers-and-cities\/\">How New Texas Water Supplies Could Help Both Farmers and Cities<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/18\/drought-claims-2000-jobs-in-panhandle-with-plant-closure\/\">Drought Claims 2,000 Jobs in Panhandle<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/29\/water-for-texas-more-than-just-money-needed-lawmakers-say\/\">Water For Texas: Lawmakers Say State Needs More Than Money<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/02\/05\/for-texas-legislature-what-a-difference-no-rain-makes\/\">For Texas Legislature, What a Difference No Rain Makes<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/04\/Screen-Shot-2012-05-02-at-1.42.38-PM.png\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/drought-app\/\">An Interactive Look at the Texas Drought<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>There are 19 water systems spread throughout the state with less than 180 days of water supply left, according to the TCEQ. Twelve water systems have less than 90 days of water and three have less than 45 days. <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/15\/after-a-year-with-failed-well-water-solution-in-sight-for-spicewood-beach\/\">Spicewood Beach<\/a>, a community located some 40 miles outside of Austin on Lake Travis, <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/15\/after-a-year-with-failed-well-water-solution-in-sight-for-spicewood-beach\/\">still has to have its water trucked in<\/a>, \u00a0L\u2019Oreal Stepny, deputy director of the office of water with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality&#8217;s (TCEQ) office\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/12\/13\/central-texas-water-conflict-heats-up-again\/\">State Senator Troy Fraser<\/a>\u00a0(R-Horseshoe Bay), Chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, addressed the issue of evaporation. In 2011, he said, the evaporation in the Colorado River basin depleted more water than municipal use.<\/p>\n<p>And global warming could be fueling it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only factor related to the drought that can be clearly related to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/05\/29\/why-climate-change-may-increase-water-demands\/\">climate change<\/a>\u00a0is the change in temperature. The state temperature has increase on average by about two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1970s. That impacts drought through evaporation,\u201d\u00a0Climatologist Neilson-Gammon said.<\/p>\n<p>Direct reuse projects could prove helpful in reducing evaporation, as water would be kept in pipes instead of being released into a reservoir.\u00a0Stepny of the TCEQ said applications to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/10\/in-brownwood-unique-wastewater-plant-still-not-a-done-deal\/\">build reuse plants<\/a>\u00a0has increased and the TCEQ is trying to expedite them. Still, a reuse plant can take years to realize, and relief\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/04\/latest-drought-outlook-dry-spell-could-continue-in-texas\/\">can\u2019t come soon enough<\/a>\u00a0for some Texas communities.<\/p>\n<p>The towns of Brownwood, Big Spring and Goldthwaite have applied to build such plants. If built, the plants would purify wastewater and pipe it directly back into the city\u2019s water pipes.<\/p>\n<p>While those Central and West Texas towns are not growing at an alarming rate, Texas\u2019 total population is forecast to increase by 82 percent over the next 50 years, said Carolyn Brittin of the Texas Water Devlepment Board (TWDB). But currently existing water capacity in Texas will decrease by ten percent in the next 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s attributed to a number of factors,&#8221; Brittin said. &#8220;It\u2019s partially due to sedimentation in reservoirs, but the majority of it is declining groundwater supplies due to mining, or regulation or just the cost that is required to pump the water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Novel technologies and new purification techniques aside, Texas is looking at building more than a dozen reservoirs around the state. One of them, the projected 225,000 acre-foot Cedar Ridge Reservoir, would sit on drought-prone land. Abilene is currently on year-round water restrictions, said\u00a0Abilene\u00a0Mayor Norm Archibald.<\/p>\n<p>Abilene is working on the reservoir with two nearby cities, Midland and San Angelo, to reduce the cost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no more important charge for us as leaders to ensure the future viability of our regions than that to develop adequate water supplies,\u201d Archibald said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/bill-callegari\/\">State Rep. Bill Callegari<\/a> (R-Houston) saw a potential problem with the proposed lake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you fill it?\u201d he asked Archibald.<\/p>\n<p>Archibald said that even with drought, the reservoir had potential. He cited studies indicating that the Clear Fork of the Brazos River would fill it.<\/p>\n<h5><em>David Barer is a reporting intern with StateImpact Texas.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Nielson-Gammon, Texas\u2019 State Climatologist, offered a grim forecast to kick off a joint House and Senate Natural Resources Committee meeting today at the Capitol. \u201cThere\u2019s still a good chance this will end up being the drought of record for most of the state,\u201d he said. Several officials from state agencies involved with Texas\u2019 water [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":23824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[61,336,77,33,243,282,310,85,275],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23807"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32280,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23807\/revisions\/32280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}