The city of Austin continues looking for ways to ensure an adequate water supply for its growing population.
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin leaders took the next steps to ensure the Capital City has enough water for the future.
The Austin Water Oversight Committee met on Tuesday to discuss updates to the city’s Water Forward 2024 plan.
Also known as Austin’s Integrated Water Resource Plan, Water Forward is the city’s water plan for the next 100 years.
Austin Water staffers said they’ve identified three things that could present problems later on.
The first is population and demand growth. By 2120, the city’s population could rise to more than 3.5 million people.
The second is drought and climate change. With water levels already dropping in our two reservoirs – Lakes Travis and Buchanan – water experts said they’re expecting worse droughts in the future.
The third is regional supply development. The Lower Colorado River Authority, or LCRA, has plans to create more water supply projects to meet demand for the entire Central Texas area, but how much water those projects create is still up in the air.
The updated Water Forward 2024 plan would include pushing Austinites to do more to conserve water and ramping up the city’s efforts to replace and repair aging infrastructure. Old leaky pipes continue to lead to millions of gallons of water loss.
Another change would expand the city’s purple pipe program to require more new developments to use reclaimed water for non-drinking purposes like irrigation, cooling and manufacturing. Currently, the city only requires that for larger developments but that may change to add medium-scale projects to that list.
Austin Water director Shay Ralls Roalson also gave a director’s report, which included an update on the utility’s operational readiness and regulatory updates.
“In fiscal year 2024, we delivered $305 million in capital improvements, which is a record investment in infrastructural renewal and system resiliency,” she said.
Austin Water also discussed its conservation and drought contingency plans as well as water loss mitigation strategies.
The Austin City Council is set to approve these recommendations at its Nov. 21 meeting.
