The Facts

  • The 2012 State Water Plan estimates Texas will need an additional 8.3 million acre-feet of water a year in 2060 to meet demand under drought conditions.
  • Implementation of the water supply strategies in the 16 Regional Water Plans has an estimated capital cost of $53 billion.
  • Voluntary redistribution of existing water supply through water marketing is constrained by state and local district regulations.
  • Water conservation strategies could generate nearly 2.2 million acre-feet of additional supply per year by 2060, according to the State Water Plan.
  • Surface water strategies in the State Water Plan are estimated to produce about 3 million acre-feet of additional supply per year by 2060.
  • Finally, the State Water Plan recommends construction of 26 new reservoirs, which would add 1.5 million acre-feet of new supply annually.

 

Recommendations

  • Remove legal barriers to private investment in water supply projects.
  • Amend Texas law to simplify TCEQ approval of water right amendments.
  • Simplify requirements for bed and banks authorization for indirect reuse of water.
  • Eliminate the “junior rights” restrictions on inter-basin water transfers.
  • Amend SB 3 to clarify that the policy objectives for Environmental Flow Standards are critical flows during a drought of record.
  • Clarify TWDB’s statutory authority in Regional Groundwater Management Areas to establish desired future conditions is consistent with the landowner’s right to groundwater in place, as recognized by the Texas Supreme Court in Edwards Aquifer Authority v. McDaniel, and the Texas legislature in SB 332.