Opinion

Texas is facing a reckoning on water that we must address if the state wants to secure its future prosperity. The State Water Plan prepared by the Texas Water Development Board projects that Texas faces a longterm water supply deficit of 6.9 million acrefeet in 50 years if we do not expand our water supply portfolio and are hit by another long, severe drought. The reason for this potential deficit is simple: we live in a droughtprone state where our population will grow as our available water supplies diminish. Two factors could aggravate this water supply deficit. First, we know that Texas’ population is projected to grow significantly over the next 50 years. A larger state population, combined with expanded economic activity, will increase and accelerate the demand for more water supplies. Then there is the issue of drought and what it means for our future water supplies. Looking back in history, we know from paleoclimatic records that Texas endured droughts that were longer and more severe than the Drought of Record of the 1950s. These occurred during the 19th century between the time of the Texas Revolution and the Civil War and in the early 18th century. Last month, Texas 2036 and the Office of the State Climatologist at Texas A&M University released an updated report on observed and projected extreme weather trends. While the report does not make any specific predictions, it does project “increased drought severity” due to warmer temperatures and greater rainfall variability. This rainfall variability will contribute to more erratic runoff into our surface water resources. On top of this, warmer temperatures will increase the rate of summertime evaporative losses from our lakes and reservoirs by 7 percent. The good news here is that the Texas Legislature recently gave regional water planners the green light to plan for droughts worse than the Drought of Record of the 1950s. The bad news here is that the famous saying that “Texas is the land of perpetual drought, visited by the occasional biblical flood” will continue to hold true, the prospects of future droughts being worse.

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Drought conditions across the state dropped a percentage point in May compared to the previous month, with 26% of the state in some stage of drought, primarily in West and South Texas and parts of the Panhandle.

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