{"id":31394,"date":"2013-09-24T08:48:24","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T13:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=31394"},"modified":"2013-09-24T08:48:24","modified_gmt":"2013-09-24T13:48:24","slug":"green-in-brownwood-how-one-business-conserves-water-in-the-middle-of-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/24\/green-in-brownwood-how-one-business-conserves-water-in-the-middle-of-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Green in Brownwood: How One Business Conserves Water in the Middle of Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"toilet<\/a>

Photo by Mose Buchele<\/p>

The toilet sink, imported from Japan, aims to educate people about conservation at Steve's Market and Deli.<\/p><\/div>\n

Located just one county north of geographic center of Texas, Brownwood, population 20,000, might seem an unlikely place for high tech innovation. But about a year ago the town made headlines for proposing a cutting-edge solution to its water crisis: toilet to tap waste water treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The future of that project remains unclear as the town explores other options (including simply digging new wells<\/a>). But that hasn’t stopped some residents from taking matters into their own hands.\u00a0 On our recent reporting trip<\/a> to to the oilfields of the Permian Basin, we ran into one of those people: Steve Harris, co-owner of Steve’s Market and Deli. <\/a><\/p>\n

As a small businessman and self-described ‘activist’ Harris has turned his cafe into a sort of show-room for water conservation. The bathroom featured a toilet-sink <\/a>commonly found in Tokyo. The cafe also captures rain water, and water from the AC system. It recycles trash in a town that has no city-wide recycling.<\/p>\n

Click the player below to hear more about Harris’ efforts to conserve and some of the challenges he says he has in going “green” in Brownwood.<\/p>\n