A Well Running Dry

It comes as no surprise that Texas is facing a substantial battle with Mother Nature over water accessibility, given its rapidly growing metropolitan population, its harsh arid climate, and the effects of global warming that are penetrating our planet.  Our current water conservation efforts are not adequate enough.  Texas needs to implement tighter restrictions on water usage in order to provide security for the future of the state.               

Texas government needs to allocate a greater number of resources to maintaining and preserving water levels.  The state needs to invest in aquifer storage and recovery systems, especially in counties where there is an imminent threat of drought.  There also needs to be more aggressive conservation measures implemented which aim to reduce both indoor and outdoor water use and expand the use of recycled water.  According to estimates from the Texas Water Development Board, 40 percent of all municipal water use is outdoors and half of that is lost to runoff from the excessive watering of lawns. Additionally, the general public needs to be better educated and informed on the severity of the issue.  It must be emphasized that the restricted use of water during drought is not long-term water conservation, but instead, it is a temporary response to a condition of drought.  We need to find long-term solutions to this problem.         

The effects of drought have already cost the state of Texas billions of dollars.  The reported agricultural losses due to drought-induced fires in 2011 were $7.2 billion.  The reported cattle sector losses in 2011 were $3.23 billion.  Finally, the reported cotton production losses were $2.2 billion.  The state would be able to proactively prevent losses as extreme as these by allocating a fraction of the money to drought management techniques.  Now is the time to tighten and enforce water conservation regulations in the state of Texas, to set an example for other states, before it is too late.