AUSTIN, Texas —
As temperatures rise, so does water use. It's not good news, as Central Texas water supplies are already threatened by growth and old infrastructure.
The KVUE Defenders have been tracking water supply issues and how different communities are addressing them.
On Tuesday, Austin Water updated the Austin Integrated Resource Planning Community Task Force on the cost of several water management strategies that would address supply and conservation. All three options presented are in the billions.
The task force meeting started with an update on the Highland Lakes. Highland Lakes inflows were low all year until May when, for the first time, the monthly inflow exceeded the historical inflow. But every water expert will tell you: do not be fooled by this.
While recent rains brought lake levels up and prompted the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) to move from Stage 2 to Stage 1 of its new drought response on Monday, experts say we will run out of water unless new supplies are discovered and if we do not conserve what we have.
Austin Water leaders said they reviewed nearly 2 million water management strategies and whittled that down to 550 options for 2080. One water management strategy is aquifer storage and recovery, where water is stored underground until needed.
The three portfolios presented Tuesday range from having between four to 10 water management strategies, yielding between 200,000 acre-feet to 460,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot of water covers an acre of land, one foot deep. The costs range from $1.4 billion to $12.8 billion.
Task force members also made recommendations after they said Austin Water's water conservation plan was not aggressive enough. Austin Water plans to evaluate the recommendations with a consultant and return to the task force in July with an update.
Water loss is another factor Austin Water will consider as it revises the water conservation plan.
KVUE asked Austin Water for more information about a water loss study. A spokesperson provided the following response:
"Over the last several years, Austin Water’s Infrastructure Leakage Index has fluctuated and trended upwards without a clear cause for the increase. Reducing water loss is a key component to meeting water supply demands identified in Water Forward. Austin Water retained Black & Veatch last year to conduct an analysis of our existing water loss program. The report is not yet complete but is anticipated in the coming months. The work does not look at individual customers and is instead focused on water loss throughout the entire distribution system. It will also include recommendations for ways to reduce water loss systemwide.”