22
Texas Association of Builders
July/August 2015
W
ater challenges inTexas result from
the shifting dynamics of our state.
An expanding population, varied
economic interests, and ongoing drought
all affect the way we use water right now.
The goal of the Texas Water Development
Board (TWDB) is to embrace our unique
opportunity to resolve these challenges with
affordable and sustainable water for Texas.
In Texas, the future is almost impossible
to contemplate without understanding the
extreme growth taking place across the
state. The population of Texas is expected
to grow 82 percent by 2060. This equates to
at least 6 million new people in the Dallas
area, 5 million new people in the Houston
area, and 2 million new people in the Rio
Grande Valley.
Texas is already the second largest state
in the country based on population; now,
even some of the smaller, historically rural
parts of the state are projected to double
their populations in the next 50 years. And
as more people and businesses are moving
to Texas, our water supply must stretch
even further. Our job at the TWDB is to do
something about it so that Texans and Texas
businesses not only survive, but continue to
thrive well into the future.
The TWDB monitors the state’s growth
projections as part of our scientific and
planning process. Formed in 1957 after
the seven-year-long drought of record,
the TWDB serves the people of Texas
by providing the science, planning, and
financing necessary to ensure the state has
water during times of drought.
These efforts manifest in the official state
water plan every five years. Water planning
in Texas is done on a 50-year horizon, and
the state water plan is the blueprint for
moving these plans forward. This research
includes water supply levels, population
and water demand projections, and the
strategies (including capital costs) needed
to provide enough water for communities in
every region of the state.
Regional planning groups must develop
water demand projections for various
sectors of the Texas economy. These include
municipal, manufacturing, mining (oil and
gas), steam-electric (power generation),
livestock, and irrigation. Due in part to our
state’s business-friendly climate, demand
is projected to increase over the next 50
years. For example, the demand for steam-
electric, or power generation, is expected to
increase by 121 percent, from 0.7 million
acre-feet of water in 2010 to 1.6 million
acre-feet in 2060.
Power generation will make up a little
more than seven percent of all projected
water demands in 2060. Comparatively, 38
percent of the demand is expected to be for
municipal, 13 percent for manufacturing,
between one to two percent for mining and
livestock each, and 38 percent for irrigation
(which is the only sector forecasting a
decrease between 2010 and 2060).
As drought continues (as of April, 36 percent
of the state was in moderate to exceptional
drought, U.S. Drought Monitor) and the
availability of our water supply continues to
dip in areas across the state, it is vital that
Texans understand just how much water is
available to meet these future demands. If
Texas is unable to implement new projects
and strategies to increase the existing water
supply, our state might face a shortage that
could impact future growth.
Feature
THE
50 YEAR
WATER PLAN
By Kathleen Jackson, Board Member, Texas Water Development Board
