09 Jun Hi, my name is Austin, and I have a water problem + suggestions for what to do about it

You don't have to be a water engineer, demographer or City Planner to have a strong and informed view that we need to make a major shift in our relationship with water to plan for the sustained health of our region.

As all the 12-step programs teach, creating major behavioral change in a dysfunctional area of our lives starts with accepting and admitting that we have a problem and looking to a higher power for strength and guidance. I will declare, as a statement of fact, we have a water problem and we need higher thinking to address it. Recently there was much hand-wringing by Mayor Leffingwell and others about setting a target of 140 gallons per person per day target. Why? Because it sends the message that we are a water-limited area. Uh, HELLO, people, WE LIVE IN A WATER RESTRICTED AREA and it's not getting better, it's getting worse.

Is 140 gallons a lot? Can I take a moment to point out that the US average is 112 gallons, that it is 9x more than the UK, 4x more than our European counterparts, 2x Japan and 50% more than Australia. Whether you believe in climate change or not it's not hard to see that populations growth + current approaches to water use (especially lawn practices) + the trend in water levels in Lake Travis = a future of water supply issues and therefore new water management strategies are needed.

We have been tinkering at the edges of the problem and making some headway, by offering rebates on water catchment systems, and providing first-rate education about native and adapted plant species through the GrowGreen Program. The sustainable sites initiative between the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center/UT and the US Green Building Council is a big step in the right direction too. Getting ALL landscapes to use the Sustainable Sites standards and practices would make HUGE headway toward addressing the problem.

But I want to just point out a few things.

1) Lake Travis, our primary source of drinking water supply was at 40% of capacity last summer. So far this year we are experiencing the 3rd worst drought in Texas' history (since 1895), and "the Lower Colorado River Authority, which says that the last seven months have been among the driest in the region's history, is currently asking customers to conserve water." (from CREDO)

2) With the concurrent heat and drought last summer Lake Travis was losing an equal amount of water to evaporation daily as was being consumed by the entire City of Austin municipal demand.

3) When we put in place (temporary) mandatory twice-a-week-maximum lawn watering schedules our water usage dropped precipitously. Demand stayed lower for a long time after the restrictions were lifted too, effectively establishing a new demand baseline.

4) Water loss and compromised fire readiness are due to our leaking network of cast-iron pipes that are sometimes too small for the job, not lack of water treatment. See Paul Robbins' blog.

What do I think we should do?

1) Implement mandatory, ongoing mandatory watering restrictions and enforce them. Twice a week maximum. Once a week when we are really bad off.

2) Evolve our water policies to not only allow but encourage the re-use of water in ways that are prudent and safe.

3) Pursue Paul Robbins' suggestions laid out in his report "Read it and Leak" and my interview summary.
    1. Relocate the water conservation department out of the water utility to avoid conflict of interest
    2. Encourage re-use in every way possible
    3. Staff up the commercial conservation and 2-day/wk watering programs
    4. Replace leaky pipes around town
    5. Investigate and implement electronic controllers for irrigation systems… and more…

4) Invest in develop engineering and business models for building out Green Infrastructure Technology along the lines of Low Impact Development (LID) and build it out. As my hero Van Jones says, "I envision a full-employment economy based on retrofitting a nation." When our investment is realized we will have in place an infrastructure that allows us to capture, reuse and biologically filter as much rain and used water as possible.
    1. Place a high priority on recruiting staff people to Austin Water and the (relocated) water Conservation Program that "get" LID and conservation as a way of life.
    2. Determine the applicability of LID to existing infrastructure and put in place plans for LID in all future development.
    3. Create a vision of this new infrastructure which will include widespread rainwater catchment, purple pipe installation, bio-filtration ponds (a la the new Sand Beach project) and more. Convey that vision to the public.
    4. Identify entrepreneurial/economic development opportunities, public/private partnerships, micro-enterprise options, small business growth, conversion of mainstream business to green technologies and other opportunities to facilitate the implementation of the above-mentioned infrastructure.

5) Make sure some Austinites are attending the Water 2.0 Investment Summit in November. See my fourth points in 4) above. We must be building businesses to bring forth this new way of living

6) Fundamentally transform our notion of yards and landscaping.
    1. Go local – use native and well-adapted, non-invasive species. See www.GrowGreen.org and www.SustainableSites.org
    2. Harvest or habitat. Lawns are the largest crops in America that feed no one (apologies to the few goat owners out there). Plant items that produce food for humans and animals or least provide habitats for the critters that have made it this far with us.
    3. Minimize turf. Any turf that is installed should have good soil depth, mulch, preferably shade, and be of a variety that requires minimal water.

We may need to build a water treatment plant at some point down the line, but we don't need it now, and I believe that if we invest in the above-mentioned smart, green infrastructure now, we will be so water smart and efficient that by the time we really need to bump up water treatment capacity the viable technology for treating and delivering water may likely be light years ahead of where we are now…implementing VERY old-school infrastructure planning.