Texas Water Board recommends spending $52 billion to supply next half century of water

26 new reservoirs

Jay Blazek Crossley, Dec 21, 11.

The Texas Water Board believes that the state needs to build $53 billion worth of water infrastructure to keep up with growing demand of a population they see increasing by 82 percent by 2060, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

The 295-page report by the Texas Water Development Board says the state should implement 562 infrastructure and conservation projects that include building 26 reservoirs and numerous dams, pipelines and wells—but it provides little guidance on how to pay for any of it.

The board is required to issue a report every five years. This one says the state’s population is expected to grow 82 percent by 2060, even as the water supply is expected to drop 10 percent. Failing to meet future water needs could cost Texas $11.9 billion per year if the current drought approaches the state’s worst on record and up to $115.7 billion annually by 2060.

Texas is in the worst single-year drought on record.

“The primary message of the 2012 State Water Plan is a simple one: In serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, its businesses, and its agricultural enterprises,” board Chairman Edward Vaughan wrote in the introduction.

State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon has said the current drought is likely to continue at least until next fall.