In the past, Texans - particularly those in the most populated areas - found water for all those extra showers, sprinklers and toilets by heading to where the water was and grabbing it. They did this with big reservoirs, deep wells and long pipelines. Whatever it took. But the days of cheap and abundant water are coming to an end, and where the additional supply will come from is not clear. The devastating drought of the 1950s, the marker for the worst-case dry spell in Texas history, prompted a massive investment in the state's water infrastructure designed to ensure there would be enough water to meet the demand in decades to come.
Sixty years later, with the state gripped once again by a record-setting drought, lawmakers are balking at the price tag of a plan designed to meet demand for the next 50 years - a staggering $53 billion for more reservoirs, desalination plants and pipelines, among other projects. The Texas House failed to take action during its last session on two bills intended to create the first permanent funding source for the state's water plan. Instead, lawmakers placed two propositions on last week's ballot, with mixed results. Voters authorized a revolving $6 billion bond program to pay for water supply projects, but rejected another that would provide tax breaks for conservation on ranch lands.
The central dilemma - not enough water to meet competing demands - can be seen along the Trinity River, which runs for 715 miles from the Oklahoma line to Galveston Bay. The rain-fed stream carries the heavy burden of supplying water for Texas' two largest metropolitan areas, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, and the demands will only grow with an ever booming, increasingly urban population. But the Trinity, like many other Texas rivers, is tapped, with virtually every drop appropriated by farmers, industries and boundless cities.
Without room for new reservoirs in the Trinity basin, water managers will rely more on conservation and recycled water to close the gap between supply and demand, according to the state plan. They also will protect more aquatic ecosystems that hold storm waters and act as filters. And they will charge those who waste water even more. All the while, they must leave some water in the river for the benefit of fish and wildlife. "We're lucky to be on the water-rich side of the state," said Jim Lester, an ecology expert and vice president at the Houston Advanced Research Center in The Woodlands. "We're just not rich enough."
Texas' hydraulic heart
