Sen. Charles Perry, I appreciate the focus on planning for Texas' long-term water future inyour recent opinion columnin the Avalanche-Journal.
There is one goal that deserves to be placed at the very top of that plan:
Make 100% beneficial reuse of treated wastewater the goal for Texas instead of discharging managed pollution into our watersheds.
Every drop of treated wastewater reclaimed for beneficial use—agriculture, irrigation, industrial purposes, aquifer recharge, municipal uses, or other appropriate applications—is a water resource that should be reused before it is simply discharged into a river, creek, lake or reservoir.
Establish a beneficial reuse hierarchy that protects water supply and water quality, at the same time:
First, conserve.
Second, reclaim and reuse. Third, recover and recharge. Last, develop additional water supplies where the need remains. Implement
Texas is investing our money, and we should make sure that investment is producing the maximum amount of usable water possible. Waiting to put in purple pipe reuse infrastructure later, is “cost prohibitive”.
Texas has spent decades treating effluent as something to discharge. It is a water supply.
If we are serious about water for the future, let's make 100% beneficial reuse the goal.
One water. One future.
Texas lawmakers have the opportunity to lead the nation and the world in reclaiming treated wastewater for beneficial reuse, and not just in Austin. Let’s be first! —not “first at worst.” - Danae N Delaney, Canyon Lake, Texas.
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This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Letter writer responds to Sen. Perry column on Texas' water needs
