Water is synonymous with San Antonio and its famous River Walk. Still, the area is still struggling with the same issue seen all across the state: ensuring there’s enough of it to meet the demands of a growing area well into the future.
Robert Mace has been thinking a lot about this. He teaches and studies water policy at Texas State University, where he’s executive director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment.
Mace joined Texas Standard as part of the show’s special live broadcast from the Alamo City. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: San Antonio is one of the fastest-growing cities and regions in the nation. In fact, I was looking at a few lists, and it’s often mentioned in the top five in the U.S.
I’m just going to put it to you bluntly: Does the city have the water resources it needs to support that kind of growth?
Robert Mace: Well, we’re all struggling in finding additional water to meet growth across the state, but San Antonio Water System, who’s in charge of water for San Antonio, has been doing a stellar job of conserving water, using water efficiently, and seeking new supplies. But it’s getting harder and harder.
Where does San Antonio, right now, get its water?
Mostly it comes from the Edwards Aquifer, so this beautiful limestone aquifer underneath our feet here that flows from Brackettville area all the way up through Kyle.
I mean, aquifers are kind of mysterious though, aren’t they? I mean, how is the aquifer doing? We don’t always know exactly, reliably, how it’s going to refill. Is it looking good right now at the moment?
I think now we’re in stage four restrictions.
The Edwards Aquifer is like the Kim Kardashian of aquifers. Everything is like more fabulous and over the top than most aquifers in the state.
Most aquifers in the state are like mildly depressed librarians. And so what I mean by that, is that it recharges or fills up very quickly. Water flows through it very fast. And then it comes out very dramatically, like San Marcos Springs and Comal Springs over in New Braunfels.
So if you’re gonna rely on an aquifer, the Edwards is a good one.
I mean, yeah. It is a good one. It’s a fabulous aquifer.
However, it behaves more like a river than a typical aquifer. Typical aquifer, the water flows very slow, thousands of years. Edwards, you’re talking days to months for the water to go through it.
So when there’s a drought, we don’t have as much water coming in, the aquifer water levels go down, spring flows go down and then we suffer these drought restrictions.
In some parts of the state, people have put numbers on it. They’ve said, listen, we can’t sustain this growth by 2030. We’re going to be out of water unless we find a new place.
You seem like a pretty laid-back guy. I don’t sense that there’s a lot of panic in your voice or in your demeanor. And yet, is there a drop-off point that you are concerned about?
The statements about running out of water in 2030 are more related to the growth. We didn’t build a water supply for 100 years in the future, so we’re having to catch up for those water supplies. We have a state water plan, there’s region water plans, San Antonio Water System and other water utilities typically are on top of this.
What worries me, though, is the easy water is gone. So like, there is no more water to pull out of the Edwards Aquifer. Most of the good reservoir sites are gone.
Once we’ve used it, it’s gone? Is that what you’re saying?
No, what I mean is that how much you can pump out on an annual basis.
Okay, so no more-more.
It’s not permitted. San Antonio can’t get more water. So we’re having to be more creative about where our water comes from.
We’re Texans. We are creative when it comes to water. We know the value of water, and San Antonio is a leader in that space.
You mentioned the “River City.” You know what’s in that river? Treated wastewater.
Well, now, what about what civic leaders are doing to try to bring in more water? Is there a clear plan? What’s the latest you’re hearing on that front?
Using water more efficiently is key.
Conservation?
Yeah, and it’s the least expensive water that we can get. So folks using water more efficiently, minimizing outdoor water use, turning the faucet off when you brush your teeth, all adds up to more water that’s available for growth and then also in protecting water levels in the aquifer and spring flow.
More and more we’re seeing communities taking that wastewater and treating it for other uses. San Antonio has been a leader in that.
I don’t believe San Antonio has this in their water plan, but there’s other communities on the I-35 growth corridor that are now looking to clean that water back up into drinking water. So San Marcos is looking to do that, Buda, Austin’s investigating that now as well. El Paso’s building a big plant to do that.
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Are you are you concerned that economic growth in this region, though, could really be throttled or choked off if we don’t do something more radical than conservation or do you think that that’s going to be sufficient?
A lot of folks are going towards one of those mildly depressed librarian aquifers, the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer. It’s this nice sandstone aquifer, has a lot of water in it. But these sandstone aquifers are easily overwhelmed with pumping.
What I’m concerned about is everybody is now going there, including San Antonio. And we’re going to reach the capacity pretty quickly there. And so then the question is, where does the next water come from?
I do see, in my crystal ball, eventually seawater desalination coming up to the region, and the Nueces River Authority is looking to do that now, including piping that up to the San Antonio region.
So you’re talking about from the Corpus Christi area and that sort of thing?
Yes, yeah, exactly.
Your number one concern when it comes to water – is there another critical point, critical juncture that you’re most concerned about now?
The warming climate. The temperatures that are going up, even if rainfall stays the same, means there’s less runoff or water coming off the landscape into our rivers and reservoirs and into our aquifers. And that is not really considered in the state water plan in a serious way.
And so the water we think we have now may actually be much less than what we have as we march into the future.
We need more data?
We do need more data, but we also need more analysis. There’s, you know, can I say “climate change”? “Climate change” is a touchy word in a lot of circles. And so maybe more than data, we need courage to look at those issues more closely.
You get a sense that lawmakers are afraid to deal with this topic or are lawmakers taking the steps that they need to?
We’re not seeing leadership coming out of Austin on this. In terms of why, it’s probably a mix of reasons. Some of it may be it just turns into a big fight and nothing gets done.
I mean, voters will remember we just approved putting a bunch of money towards that, but I’m getting the sense that that doesn’t solve it?
It doesn’t solve it. It goes a long way to helping, so it’s a good thing.
