The Challenge
The Texas Triangle—the area between Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston—is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. Managing the rapid growth in water demand without starving downstream communities who rely on reliable water for agriculture, industry, and environmental flows cannot be achieved through conservation alone.
The Opportunity
Texas Water Trade's Net Zero Water strategies deploy behind the meter to provide fit for purpose water that reduces demand for treated drinking water. Investment in distributed water resources are key to reaching water positive outcomes and replenishing local water supplies in growing urban corridors and strained watersheds. Our approach aligns with municipal One Water goals by leveraging onsite water streams typically viewed as nuisance flows as a valuable and viable supply of water, inviting the built environment to participate in the water cycle of Texas.
The Impact
Our award-winning Net Zero Toolkit has helped save more than 1.5 million gallons of water per year on individual projects. Net Zero Water is a model design approach that emphasizes harvesting and reusing water sources such as rainwater, air conditioning condensate, and graywater, to meet non-potable demands including irrigation, toilet flushing, and facility cooling. Buildings that employ Net Zero Water strategies can reduce drinking water demands by 50-80%, conserving drinking water supplies while facilitating economic growth.
Working across both public and private sectors, we convene critical stakeholders in the architecture, engineering, and construction community along with corporate sustainability leaders and municipal water providers to speak a common language of water availability and economic feasibility. Our work models the benefits of Net Zero Water to unlock scaled adoption across the water user market.
