TEXAS HAS A WATER CRISIS

By The South Texas Regional Water Alliance  

  According to the State, if Texas does nothing to cope with the booming population and dwindling water supply, Texas businesses will lose $116 billion over the next 50 years. The state as a whole will lose more than one million jobs. Locally we will not have to wait 50 years to feel the consequences of our limited water supply. Medina, Atascosa and Rural Bexar County we are already strained by drought, a booming economy, population increase and mineral exploration.

     The South Texas Regional Water Alliance (STRWA) was organized in 2006 by the cities, counties and water suppliers of the Tri-County area to address these very issues. STRWA believes we must work together to plan for the future and balance the needs of agriculture, industry and public drinking water to ensure an adequate supply for all needs. Among the projects proposed

are a series of water interconnects allowing neighboring water suppliers to assist each other in emergency situations. Find alternative sources of drinking water than the Edwards Aquifer, Carrizo Aquifer and the use of groundwater, recycling and reuse of water and other means

of water management. Funding of these projects is a chief obstacle to seeing these projects become a reality.

     The Texas Water Development Board has consolidated these projects into a document known as the “State Water Plan, but it has never been funded. Recently in the Texas Legislature, House Bill 5 and 11 have been filed that would reserve 2 billion dollars from oil and gas excise taxes and divert them to fund the State Water Plan. The members of the STRWA believe this is a good first step at averting dire economic losses due to lack of water supply and assuring water security for the rest of this century. The South Texas Regional Water Alliance urges the

residents of Atascosa, Medina and rural Bexar Counties to contact their legislators to ensure an adequate percentage of these funds are set aside for rural and the rapidly developing areas, such as ours. Together we can and will make a difference.

South Texas Regional Water Alliance Members are Atascosa Rural Water Supply, City of Castroville, City of LaCoste, City of Pleasanton, East Medina Special Utility District, Yancey Water Supply Corp, Humberto Ramos, Benton City Water Supply Corporation, City of Charlotte, City of Natalia, City of Von Ormy, McCoy Water District and Unico Cattle Company.