Water Conservation

I was reviewing the 2007 State Water Plan for Texas recently and was struck by the following:  water demand in Texas is going to increase by over 27.3% between 2000 and 2060.  Regionally, the increases are going to be stunning.  Demand in North Central Texas is going to increase by almost 140%.

As staggering as the future demand projections are, I found the differences in per capita water consumption from one city to another even more interesting.  For instance, in 2003, people in Plano used approximately 225 gallons per day.  Meanwhile, their Collin County neighbors to the north in McKinney averaged only 153 gallons per day.  This means that the average person in Plano consumed almost 50% more water than residents of  McKinney.  For those of you not familiar with this part of Texas, McKinney is only about 10 miles north of Plano and has somewhat similar demographics.  They both get their water from the same source – surface water from North Texas Municipal Water District. 

So what’s the difference?  All we can really do is speculate.

Is it that people in one city are more conservation minded?  Perhaps the local government in one city is stricter about enforcing water restrictions?  Maybe the answer is extremely complicated – a combination of so many factors that you’d have to have a PhD in chaos theory to decipher it?  We just can’t know for sure.  But it’s interesting to think about.

Can you imagine a time where water conservation becomes so important that kids from one town taunt their neighbors because they use more water?  “They may have beaten us by 3 touchdowns, but they don’t have low-flow showerheads in their locker room!”

Maybe not.  At any rate, conserve where you can and I promise I won’t taunt you.

If you’d like to see the Texas Water Plan, follow this link.

posted by RANDY ALEXANDER

Comments

[clearwaterpsi]

Expansion into areas such as Texas and Florida is inevitable. Water use is predominantly due to outdoor irrigation systems. Although I am in Florida and specializing in the water conserversation efforts due to irrigation, I have had the opportunity to learn that Texas is or has passed a bill for new construction to require "SMART" controllers for irrigation systems. Although there are many questions regarding this type of control, I feel ANYTHING is better than NOTHING and am pleased to see that the administrators have required this new device.
Water use will continue to bring heightened controversy. If we all bring heightened awareness to conserving or reducing our usage we would be better off for a longer period of time. It's been proven for some time ... conservation works.