A Survey of Public Perceptions and Attitudes about Water Availability Following Exceptional Drought in Texas

This study examines the results of a random sample survey of Texans evaluating citizen awareness, attitudes, and willingness to adopt water conservation practices. The study investigates changes in public attitudes following the most intense one-year drought on record in Texas by evaluating public perception of water availability, assessing Texans’ attitudes and perceptions regarding drought conditions, and comparing the number of Texans adopting practices to conserve water before and after the drought of 2011. Almost 70% indicated that the likelihood of their area suffering from a prolonged drought was increasing. More than 61% of respondents have changed the way their yard is landscaped and 62% have also adopted new technologies in an effort to conserve water. Overall, responses indicated that Texans are concerned with water availability after experiencing, in 2011, the worst one-year drought on record, and that the majority of respondents are taking personal action in an effort to conserve water for the future

Ensuring One Water Delivers for Healthy Waterways

This publication describes a proposed framework to assist communities in implementing the One Water approach in a way that optimizes water supplies to cities and keeps waters flowing for the creeks, rivers and bays that support healthy fish and wildlife and their habitats.

Best Bets for Texas Water

This brochure describes Texas's unique water issues and the various solutions being used to meet future water needs, including conservation, One Water, nature-based solutions, aquifer storage and recovery, reuse, groundwater withdrawal, desalination, interbasin transfers, and dams and reservoirs.

Surface Water-Groundwater Interaction Issues in Texas

In Texas, surface water is owned and regulated by the State of Texas, whereas groundwater is owned by respective property owners under the rule of capture. Owners of surface water rights, issued by the state, and groundwater may use and sell their water as a private property right. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality administers surface water rights, while groundwater conservation districts (where they exist) are primarily responsible for permitting groundwater use. This paper focuses on the complexity of both systems that are designed to manage water resources differently with specific emphasis on where surface water and groundwater interact. Surface water-groundwater interactions have contributed to disputes over the actual ownership and right to water. The available science and the limitations of the models currently used to make water availability and permitting determinations are discussed, as are the investments in field data gathering and interpretation and model enhancements that can lead to better assessments of surface water-groundwater interactions and impacts. More complete science and enhanced models may also help reduce the timeline associated with the permitting of future water supply and use strategies.

Local Response to Water Crisis: Explaining Var in Usage Restrictions During Drought

What explains local policy response to extreme events? This question takes on growing importance as climate change increases the frequency of droughts, floods, heat waves, wildfires, and severe storms. Emergency events like these often require local officials to make decisions that trade off short-term risk reduction against longer-term political costs. Policies that promote community-wide safety and resilience may face opposition because they restrict resource use or otherwise limit personal activities. Using data on the adoption of local water usage restrictions during the 2010–2013 Texas drought, we examine the balance between political and problem-driven incentives for local emergency response. We find that problem conditions and institutional capacity of water systems outweigh political interests in shaping the timing of policy response.

Saving water in Texas

This brief publication describes Texas's sources of water, water supply issues, future water concerns, and ways in which Texans are activing to save water.

WATER CONSERVATIONGuest UserMay 1, 2016EPA, Water Sense, Policy

A Report on Progress of Water Conservation in Texas: Report to 84th Legislature

The Texas Water Conservation Advisory Council's Report to the Legislature on the progress of water conservation in Texas.

Water Grand Challenges: Water Conservation - Policy and Education Driven Water Conservation

This brief summarizes the need for and approaches to policy and educational programming on the importance of municipal, agricultural, and industrial water conservation.

Water Grand Challenges: Economics of Water

Guest UserJanuary 1, 2013The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, The Meadows Center, Texas State University, Policy, Drought, Climate, Energy

Adressing the Energy-Water Nexus: A Blueprint for Action and Policy Agenda

WATER/ENERGY NEXUSGuest UserMay 1, 2011Alliance for Water Efficiency, ACEEE, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Energy, Policy

Water Conservation Policy Evaluation: The Case of the Southern Ogallala Aquifer

The Great Plains region of the United States is characterized by a significant dependence on agriculture; specifically irrigated agriculture. The regional economic dependence on irrigated agriculture and the decline of the Ogallala Aquifer due to agricultural pumping have been much of the basis for the relatively recent governmental interest in developing policy alternatives for conserving water in the aquifer. The objectives of this study were to analyze and evaluate the outcomes of specified water conservation policy alternatives on the Ogallala Aquifer underlying the Southern High Plains of Texas and Eastern New Mexico using non-linear optimization models. Results indicate that due to varying land use and hydrologic conditions in the Ogallala Aquifer, blanket water conservation policies will likely be inefficient.

The Business Case for Water Conservation in Texas

WATER CONSERVATIONGuest UserJune 1, 2007Chris Brown Consulting, Lower Colorado River Authority, LCRA, Commercial, Policy, Chris Brown

The Economic Value of Water in Agriculture: Concepts and Policy Applications

The design of institutions that maximizes water’s beneficial use in the face of growing demands for scarce andrand om supplies is the central policy issue in dry places. Information on water’s economic value enables decision makers to make informed choices on water development, conservation, allocation, and use when growing demands for all uses are made in the face of increased scarcity. Conceptually correct and empirically accurate estimates of the economic value of water are essential for rational allocation of scarce water across locations, uses, users, andtime periods. This review article raises several issues that must be considered in deriving accurate estimates of the economic value of water. These include establishing common denominators for water values in quantity, time, location and quality; identifying the point of view from which values are measured; distinguishing the period of adjustment over which values are estimated; and accounting for the difference between total, average, and incremental values of water. We llustrate values of water for agricultural use, based on a recent drought policy analysis of the Rio Grande Basin.

WATER & AGRICULTUREGuest UserSeptember 20, 2002ELSEVIER, Water Policy, Agriculture, Policy, Frank Ward, Ari Michelsen