SAN ANTONIO – Water is such a crucial resource, but Texas water infrastructure needs a major overhaul, or it could cost the state.
“We’re looking at hundreds of millions in economic damages,” says Jeremy Mazur, Director of Infrastructure and Natural Resource Policy with Texas 2036. Texas 2036 is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that is building long-term, data-driven strategies to secure Texas’ prosperity through its bicentennial in 2036 and beyond.
“Our north star is to make Texas the best place to live and work,” says Mazur. To make that happen, water infrastructure is key.
“Texas needs to spend about 154 billion dollars over the next 50 years on new water supplies and fixing aging deteriorating drinking water and wastewater systems,” says Mazur. “New reservoirs, desalination plants, aquifer storage and recovery, and even water recycling and reuse that will work to expand our needed water supply portfolio that will make us more resilient against future droughts, and prepare us for future population and economic growth,” says Mazur.
Texas 2036 is working directly with the Texas legislature to get these projects funded in the 2025 session. San Antonio is leading the way.
“I have always found San Antonio to be the state’s, if not the nation’s leader in setting a great example in what needs to be done to diversify a water supply portfolio,” says Mazur.
We talked with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) to find out exactly what they’re doing.
“We used to have one water supply which was the Edwards aquifer. We now have developed 13 water projects from seven different sources,” says Donovan Burton, Senior Vice President of Water Resources & Government Relations at SAWS.
Burton says that because of this, their conservation programs and recycled water programs lead the nation.