Drought Drags on as Austin Water Conservation Plan Slammed by Task Force Members

The ongoing drought in Austin continues to heighten pressure on city officials to come up with a strategic water conservation plan. However, the recent proposal by Austin Water has come under fire by members of the Water Resource Planning Community Task Force, who have called the plan’s measures ‘meager’ and ‘not ambitious’.

The Proposed Conservation Measures

Two key proposals have been outlined by Austin Water in their bid to control the city’s water consumption. One of these is a conservation plan seeking to enforce year-round guidelines aimed at reducing water consumption and waste. The other is a contingency plan for droughts, which presents phased stages of emergency response and corresponding water-use restrictions in the event of a drought.

These proposals were publicized a few weeks prior to Austin Water’s expected approval date by the City Council, as is legally required. Both plans have faced substantial critique and have failed to impress the Task Force, who deem them insufficient in addressing the ongoing water scarcity issue.

‘Unambitious’ Goals

The new conservation plan sets a goal to reduce the average water consumption per person from 64 gallons to 62 gallons daily for the next five years. Simultaneously, it aims to cut down industrial and business water consumption from an average of 127 gallons to 123 gallons per day, and reduce leakage from treatment and distribution systems to 19 gallons per person per day within the same period. These goals are to be achieved via a combination of water recycling, leak repair, and promotion of year-round water conservation.

Despite these initiatives, the Task Force has criticized the goals for being less ambitious than the preceding conservation plan approved in 2019, which had aimed at achieving a daily residential water use of 61 gallons and total water use of 119 gallons per day.

Additional Controversies

Task Force members also expressed dissatisfaction at the timing of the plans release, arguing that it provided insufficient time for public scrutiny. They also voiced their concerns regarding higher-volume commercial consumers like Tesla. They argue that large businesses should have a bigger role in water conservation efforts, which is currently missing from the proposal.

The Urgency of Drought Response

Austin has been facing Stage 2 drought restrictions since August, with the risk of escalating to Stage 3 by July. With the Highland Lake reservoirs only 42% full, restrictions could further limit water usage and invoke immediate penalties for water usage violations. Persistent drought combined with population and business growth underlines the urgent need for adequate water conservation and drought response measures.

Austin Water aims to gain approval for these plans before City Council members go on summer break in June. Nevertheless, as the drought continues to loom large over the city, it remains important that the water conservation measures implemented are comprehensive, realistic, and ambitious enough to manage the crisis effectively.

Proceeding with these plans, Austin Water has scheduled a follow-up meeting with the Task Force members to address these ongoing concerns.