Water usage in Texas is projected to exceed available supply by 2060 due to rapid population growth. An additional 8.5 million acre-feet of new water supplies will be needed annually to meet demand. A diverse combination of innovative water technologies including desalination, brackish groundwater desalination, aquifer storage and recovery, reuse, and rainwater harvesting must be developed and implemented alongside conservation efforts to ensure a sustainable future water supply.

1. Ensuring a Safe, Sustainable
Future Water Supply

2. Water usage in Texas will exceed the
available water supply by 2060
• Rapid population
growth is projected
• A single source will not
be adequate to supply
demand
• Diverse combination of
technologies must be
developed and
implemented

3. Future Water Demands
State of Texas
• 8.5 million acre-feet per year of new water
supplies needed to meet 2060 demand
• One acre-foot is equivalent to approximately
326,000 gallons

4. Meeting Future Demand
• Strategic Water Management
• Using existing sources wisely
• Conservation
• Innovative Water Technologies
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•
Desalination
Brackish Groundwater Desalination
Aquifer Storage and Recovery
Reuse
Rainwater Harvesting

5. Desalination
• Process of removing dissolved salts from saline
water
• Infinite supply
– 370 miles of Texas coastline
– 67,000 - 112, 000 acre-feet / year capacity

6. Desalination Benefits & Challenges
• Benefits
– Drought-proof source
– Cost effective option due to optimization of existing
technology
• Challenges
– Higher TDS concentration, higher energy costs
– Produces toxic by-products that require disposal

7. Brackish Groundwater Desalination
• Important desalination water supply option
• Brackish groundwater is abundant in Texas
– Estimated at 2.7 billion acre-feet
• Challenges
– Lack of detailed information on water quality
parameters
– Inadequate assessment tools

8. Brackish Resources Aquifer
Characterization System (BRACS)
• Funding received in 2009
– Map and characterize brackish aquifers
– Develop better tools to assess parameters
– Groundwater flow models to determine aquifer
productivity
– Develop pilot scale models of innovative desalination
technologies

9. Aquifer Storage and Recovery
• Appropriated surface water stored in wet
years for subsequent retrieval during drought
• Injected into a geologic formation capable of
underground storage
• 67 Class V aquifer storage wells in use Texas
• Many more available

10. Aquifer Storage and Recovery
Source: Texas Water Development Board

11. Reuse
• Reclaimed Water
• Domestic or municipal wastewater
• Treated to a quality suitable for reuse
– Direct reuse
– Indirect reuse
• Not the same as grey water

12. Reuse Challenges
• Funding for initial infrastructure
– $4 billion to meet 2060 demands
– Mostly for treatment plants and pipelines
• Water rights / regulatory issues
• Water quality
• Balance between human and ecological needs

14. Rainwater Harvesting
• Renewed interest in a forgotten practice
• 1”of rain on a 2,000 sq foot roof yields 1,000 gal of
useable water
• Average system collects about 32,000 gal per year
• Suitable usages
– Landscape irrigation
– Household usage
– Drinking water (with minimum treatment)

15. Emerging Technologies
• Atmospheric water generation
• Solar powered water farms
• Solar powered desalination

16. Atmospheric Water Generation
• Freshwater is produced from the
atmosphere
• Converts humidity to liquid water
• Cools the air below its “dew point”
• Site-specific designs
• Brine or solid salt is not produced-no
desalination

17. Solar Powered Water Producing Farms
• Clean drinking water from air and sunlight
• Eliminates the need for fossil fuel power sources
• Low cost
Source: Airwaterwell - Water from Air.com

18. Solar Powered Desalination Unit
• Large scale production
• Eliminates the need for adjacent power plant
• Does not generate brine or solid salt
Source:desalwave.com

19. The time to plan for the future is now.
Humankind cannot continue to
squander our most precious resource.
There is no life without water.

20. There is No Substitute
Source: witicitafalls.gov

21. References
www.twdb.state.tx.us/
www.airwaterwell.com/
www.watair.com
www.desalwave.com/