Response to Gov. Perry’s Call for Billions for Water

Statement by Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger

Environment Texas

“Texas faces stark choices in how to meet its water needs. We can invest billions of dollars in new environmentally harmful reservoirs, pipelines and desalination plants. Or we can take the more sustainable path and ensure that the industries that consume the most water in Texas use it more efficiently.

Water conservation is a cost-effective, responsible response to the state’s water crisis. Alternatively, pulling more water out of our rivers and aquifers just to enable big users’ wasteful ways will cause irreversible damage to our natural heritage. For example, building the Marvin Nichols reservoir in east Texas would flood 72,000 acres of family ranches and increasingly rare bottomland hardwood forest, severely impacting wildlife, and more than 40 miles of river would disappear forever. Inter-basin transfers of water can deprive rivers and lakes in less-developed areas of the water they need to sustain wildlife, while also requiring the construction of ecologically disruptive water pipelines. Desalination, meanwhile, is an extraordinarily energy-intensive process that produces concentrated brine that can pollute the environment.

As Texas plans its water future, we must protect our rivers, including ensuring sufficient flows of water, preserving lands that safeguard water quality, and emphasizing water conservation over new reservoirs. Texas has largely untapped potential to conserve water through repairs to leaking water mains, improving irrigation efficiency on farms and increased use of sources of energy that don’t rely on water. We urge Gov. Rick Perry and state leaders to set aside at least half of any water funding for water conservation and reuse, repairs to leaking water mains, and to purchase water and development rights to keep water in our rivers for wildlife and recreation and to protect land that helps ensure good water quality.”

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