The state’s population is expected to double in the next three decades, driving a projected 35 percent increase in municipal water demand. Onsite water resources can be a viable, cost-effective solution to meeting the demand driven by this growth.

A growing number of communities are already taking advantage of these water reuse solutions. The City of Austin recently adopted a 100-year water supply plan that envisions a four-fold population jump without having to import new water supplies. The city’s Water Forward plan estimates that a third of future additional supplies can be sourced within the city itself from buildings that capture and reuse their own water, enhancing the performance of large infrastructure projects the city will need to reuse and store water. Nearby, the Wimberley Independent School District recently built the state’s first “One Water” school that is sourcing most of its water from rainwater and onsite wastewater treatment, thus reducing groundwater needs by about 90 percent.

Texas Water Trade is committed to working with other municipalities to pursue similar projects. Among our specific priorities is helping at least one community in the I-35 Corridor in Central Texas to develop plans and permitting processes to tap into onsite water resources that are generated by new growth.

Are you a municipality or public entity interested in tapping water reuse and Net Zero water? Please contact Scott Moorhead at moorhead@texaswatertrade.org.