Transforming water management for a sustainable future

As published in Lake Travis View, February 2025

Technology evolves, but water, in its purest form, is a constant need. As the supply and demand for clean water ebbs and flows, methods continue to evolve for treating water to drinking standards and distributing it to local homes and businesses. Policy must follow suit to help ensure the sustainability of source water, keeping it relatively free of contaminants and accessible for use.

As Ralph Erik Exton, executive director of the Water Environment Federation, put it in a recent State of the Water Sector report, “water continues to be a cornerstone of public health, national security and self-reliance, economic development and environmental sustainability.” As such, everyone, from policy makers to end users, must share the burden of its protection by using it wisely.

Water continues to be a cornerstone of public health, national security and self-reliance, economic development and environmental sustainability.

Ralph Erik Exton, executive director of the Water Environment Federation, State of the Water Sector report

The U.S. Geological Survey recently released the National Water Availability Assessment, a pioneering scientific overview of water availability that offers first-of-its-kind insights into the balance between water supply and demand across the conterminous United States. The assessment found that nearly 30 million people live in areas where available surface-water supplies are limited relative to water use. For the Southwest, the report findings state: “Consumptive-use percentages are larger in arid parts of the country (such as the Southwest Desert, California–Nevada and Texas hydrologic regions) compared to the wetter Eastern United States primarily because more public-supply water is used for landscape irrigation in arid areas, a large part of which is evapotranspired.” In fact, from 2015 data, across the United States, irrigation (which in 2015 included water to irrigate crops, golf courses, parks and all other landscape watering), and thermoelectric power represented 90% of total water withdrawals for public water supply.

Finding alternative water sources for irrigation purposes, other than using municipal water supply, which is treated to drinking water standards, is a primary focus in conservation efforts. One promising solution is the concept of water “reuse” or “reclamation.” Reusing or repurposing resources has a long history, with evidence suggesting as early as 400 BC, primarily during times of scarcity due to war, famine, or recession. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that recycling of “waste” was rebranded to align with a growing environmental conservation movement. The recycling or reuse of water refers specifically to the hundreds of billions of gallons flushed down drains by Americans each day. What if all of this “wastewater” or “sewage” could be treated and repurposed for beneficial reuse, reducing the demand on freshwater resources?

Another promising solution to addressing a growing demand for clean water is the concept most commonly referred to as “One Water,” a transformative way of viewing, valuing and managing water. According to the U.S. Water Alliance, “the One Water approach manages all water — whether from the tap, a stream, a storm, an aquifer, or a sewer.” Unlike how water sources are separately managed today, One Water suggests, since all water sources are connected, the water industry should collaborate, across municipal and state lines, to solve water challenges. Critics point out the complexity of this endeavor with localized water issues and the competing interests of stakeholders. On a smaller scale, the concept has successfully been implemented at individual buildings, constructed to capture rainwater and condensate from air conditioning units, reuse it on site, and then treat and reuse the site’s collected wastewater for irrigation and toilet flushing. The onsite water reuse system at the Austin Central Library is an exemplary example of this, supporting 350,000 gallons of storage for rainwater and A/C condensate collection saving a little over 1.5 million gallons per year of potable water on average. The Wimberley school district’s Blue Hole One Water Primary School took a similar approach, stating it reduced their reliance on municipal water up to 90% as compared to traditional building construction. The University of Texas revolutionizing its use of water through the development of the UT WaterHub. According to its news release, this on-campus, 9,600-square-foot water processing facility will allow the university to dramatically decrease its water usage. Once constructed, the WaterHub will be the largest of its kind in the nation.

Lakeway MUD, a water utility whose only freshwater resource is Lake Travis, was an early adopter of reuse water, implementing one of the first reuse water systems in Texas, utilized for irrigating a local golf course in 1975. Since then, the reuse system has been extended into commercial and public landscapes, and most recently, piloted for application on residential landscapes. Lakeway MUD’s innovative approach to this conservation effort was recently the topic of a presentation by the Central Texas division of the Water Environment Association of Texas entitled, “Lakeway MUD’s Creative Expansion of Reclaimed Water in the Highland Lakes.” Presenter Chandler Crouch, a civil engineer, touted the increased use of municipal reclaimed water as an effective way to address water supply challenges, offering benefits like reducing pollutants and lowering potable water demand. Beyond large water uses, such as for agriculture and maintaining commercial landscapes, Crouch said, “incentivizing homeowners to switch to reclaimed water for irrigation serves as a model for other utilities seeking to increase their reclaimed water use and support broader One Water strategies.”

Minimizing non-essential uses of municipal-provided drinking water is an important component to addressing the supply issues of water to support a growing population. Additionally, limiting this water use for essential purposes will help combat many of society’s problems from environmental to public health initiatives. Through the right management strategies and responsible use of water by all users, we can supply enough drinking water to support essential water use for generations to come.

_{Written by Stephanie Threinen, public information liaison for the Lakeway Municipal Utility District. Earl Foster is the general manager of LMUD}