We Need a Water Efficient Economy

23 Aug We Need a Water Efficient Economy

Posted at 13:51h in Blogs by chris_searles 0 Comments

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A coalition of environmental groups (Austin Sierra Club, Save Our Springs Alliance, Clean Water Action, Environment Texas, Responsible Water Austin, Stop the Shaft) are asking the City of Austin to halt construction on Water Treatment Plant #4. The coalition believes the City should "preserve and protect what's already been spent" on building the project, and wait until the (distant) future to consider if, and when, Austin might need more treatment capacity before finishing the build. When it comes to the next 20 years of Austin water, the coalition believes we need more efficiency, not more treatment capacity.

Regarding Water Treatment Plant #4, the coalition says:

We need a water efficient economy. Ground-based water supplies are decreasing. Water capacity is finite. Droughts are expected to increase in coming years. Finishing WTP4 means devoting over $1B to increasing water treatment capacity, an unwise direction. Yet according to the City Austin has more than 140 miles of leaky pipes in its current water delivery system. Austin's plumbing leaks billions of gallons of water every year. Construction and operation of Water Treatment Plant #4 will not remediate that problem.
The City admits water usage is already decreasing. "When it rains, we use less. When there's drought, we use less." Even as Austin continues to rapidly grow, and even in this record drought, 2011's peak water usage is well below the peak record set 10 years ago, in 2001. Environmentalists believe this trend demonstrates Austinites' ability to make more efficient use of their water and that programs to reduce the City's water waste and improve our community's water usage are more in the public interest than increasing water treatment capacity.
Water rates will skyrocket as a result of this project. The coalition believes water rates will increase 66% over the next 5 years in part because of the WTP4 project. Investing in water efficiency would, of course, reverse such a trend for bill payers. To learn more about the SOS Alliance view on how your bills will increase visit SaveWaterSaveMoney.org.

Here's a series of images from the US Drought Monitor showcasing this year's endless summer. (Dark red shows severe drought conditions.) Note, the US Drought Monitor expects this year's severe drought to continue in Central Texas thru at least October, 2011: