Region’s water supply, quality may be issues

Center for Houston’s Future

David Crossley, Jan 31, 11.

By the year 2060, the region will exceed the available water supply by about 35 percent, according to a story in the Houston Business Journal:

The Center for Houston’s Future estimates that it will cost $13 billion by the year 2060 to address issues with the region’s water supply, according to the organization’s annual Greater Houston’s Quality of Place.

The organization unveiled the report at its symposium Friday at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

That figure includes accounting for population growth and improvements to the infrastructure, according to Sandra Wegmann, manager of strategic initiatives.

The story cites a new report, “Counting on Quality of Place: Water Quality, Water Supply, and Green Buildings,” from the Center for Houston’s Future. The Houston Business Journal says:

Other findings from the report included:

• 87 percent of the Greater Houston region’s classified waterways are considered so polluted that they cannot meet their designated uses, i.e. drinking, recreation, or propagation/harvest of fish/shellfish.

• Aging wastewater infrastructure and nonpoint source runoff from yards, streets and agricultural fields contribute to high bacteria levels in the region’s waterways. Dioxins, PCBs, mercury and zinc continue to be serious problems in many of the region’s bays, estuaries and tidal sections of the rivers, creeks and bayous entering them — this is particularly true in the Houston Ship Channel.

Additionally, a brochure called “A Glance at the Figures,” published by the Center, says
• Since 2003, the amount of safe oyster harvest areas has decreased by 2.8%
• Most municipal water use takes place outdoors on activities such as landscaping
• To preserve the annual seafood harvest in Galveston Bay, the region must allow at least half of the historical amount of water to flow into Galveston Bay
• Harris County has more than 67 times the number of wastewater treatment plants of any region of comparable size or population. Most plants are small package units that are approaching the end of their useful lives.

At the conference to introduce the report, attorney and Rice University professor Jim Blackburn said “Regionalization of wastewater is necessary to reduce the current problems for the Lake Houston watershed and over time to begin to address the problems of ‘emerging’ pollutants in the Lake Houston watershed. Regionalization is a requirement of state law that has never been enforced by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which is a dysfunctional agency that is doing more harm than good right now. Ultimately, we as a region need to take authority and responsibility away from TCEQ by taking this regionalization problem on directly and efficiently.”

ABC News: Water supply, quality may be issue in future in Houston