Texas is Texas. Texas is Big. Rich. Growing. Impulsive. Impressive.
The significant question Texas hasn’t answered, though, is where it will find enough water by 2070. It will need 8.5 million acre-feet, according to the Texas Water Development Board, or about half the Chinese water deficit — to keep over 50 million people safe, satisfied and thriving during deepening droughts.
Why is Texas, the second largest American state and one of the world largest economies, looking a lot like China, India, Australia, South Africa and every other place in the world contending with the confrontation between diminishing water supply and increasing demand?
Read Water, Texas, a compelling five-part series on the consequences of the mismatch between runaway development and tightening constraints on the supply and quality of fresh water.
Water, Texas is produced by Circle of Blue with support from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. |
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| | | The round opening of Jacob’s Well in Hays County is so blue, so shimmering, that viewed from the top of a nearby limestone cliff it looks like an eye. Photo © Brian Lehmann / Circle of Blue |
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| After the Pandemic, Soaring Population Growth, Industrial Development Will Again Overwhelm Planning and Water Supply
The story of Texas is the state’s devout allegiance to the principle that mankind has dominion over nature. In 2020, the pandemic, climate disruption, and ever-present challenges with water supply and use are writing a much different story of vulnerability to nature’s forces, and to government’s uncertain capacity to adjust. |
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| | | Marfa, Texas, the Presidio County seat, is set amid thousands of square miles of desert and rangeland. A distinctive art scene has encouraged cultural tourism and rising real estate values that have priced some local residents out of the market. Photo © Brian Lehmann / Circle of Blue |
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| Opportunity to Protect A Way of Life Confronted by Oil and Clean Energy
Residents of the Big Bend region have felt imperiled by the frantic fossil and clean development occurring north of them in the Permian Basin. New market conditions make that threat much less urgent. |
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| | | Austin’s six-story, $125 million, 200,000 square-foot Central Library opened in October 2017 to rave reviews for its array of water collection, recycling, and reuse innovations. Photo © Brian Lehmann / Circle of Blue |
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| Austin, El Paso, and San Antonio Prepared for Growth and Drought
Emily Dickinson once wrote that “water is taught by thirst.” In Texas, a state that knows no bounds of economic ambition but is regularly disciplined by deep droughts, water is indeed taught by thirst. That is especially true in three big Texas cities that are globally significant innovators in water planning, technology, and use. |
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| | | The United States border wall near the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge and Highway 281 in South Texas. Photo © Brian Lehmann / Circle of Blue |
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| Trump Administration Overrides Long-Standing Conservation Mission
Given the magnitude of water challenges, and the encompassing discussion about how to deal with these issues, the border wall seems little more than a distraction in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. |
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| | | One big change in conserving water in Texas is the transition from thirsty fossil fuel electrical generation to renewable energy, which use scant amounts off water. Texas is a national leader in renewable energy. Photo © Brian Lehmann / Circle of Blue |
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| Growth in Wet Years, Economic Distress in Dry Ones
The annual $1.89 trillion Texas economy, the second largest state economy and ninth largest in the world, is entirely dependent on access to adequate supplies of water. All 29.5 million Texas residents, and 13.7 million workers, rely on access to clean fresh water. Supplying drinking water and treating wastewater is such a big industry in Texas that it employs 10,300 people, according to federal figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. |
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The Water, Texas data dashboard complements the writing by providing readers with greater context of the area’s access to water based on the current and projected demand, supply, and population.
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