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Texas is either desert or desert adjacent. We have always gotten our water by having torrential rains inconsistently. This doesn't mean don't conserve, be inte
by vorpalhex 11mo ago
Texas is either desert or desert adjacent. We have always gotten our water by having torrential rains inconsistently.
This doesn't mean don't conserve, be intelligent, etc.
But this does mean that your water won't "balance out" year to year, you need to look at big 25-30 year intervals.
Right now the single biggest waste of water in Austin is leaky pipes. Like infrastructure pipes owned by the city. Meanwhile our water conservation budget is going to billboards telling people to rush in the shower. The entire population could stop bathing and not reduce enough to make up for the leaks happening in the crumbling water infra.
- jkmcf 11mo agoWe have similar problems in Colorado re: pipes leaking. People don't want to pay the full cost of water, which includes supporting infrastructure. Municipalities are caught between these unfunded costs and taxpayers refusing to pay 1¢ more. I believe the utilities require political approval to raise rates, so that doesn't happen either.
- martinpw 11mo ago> We have always gotten our water by having torrential rains inconsistently I think OP is talking more about groundwater depletion: https://abc7amarillo.com/news/local/panhandle-runs-on-water-depletion-of-ogallala-aquifer-driving-up-drought-risk https://abc7amarillo.com/news/local/panhandle-runs-on-water-...
- polar8 11mo agoWouldn’t it just go back into groundwater?
- ralph84 11mo agoWouldn’t leaks from underground pipes end up back in the aquifer and not really be a net water loss in the long term?
- water-data-dude 11mo agoTexas state laws make regulating groundwater use very difficult. The Trinity aquifer is probably going to go dry in ten years.
- toast0 11mo agoWater in the ground from leaky pipes will travel in all directions. Some of it may end up back in the aquifer, but some will end up on the surface and evaporate. Depends on conditions near the pipe and the volume of the leak.