Region N Water Plan calls for no new reservoirs and has the largest increase for manufacturing. The Region N Plan also calls for desalinization and reliance on ground water pumping and water for municipal and industrial use will be supplied from Choke Canyon Reservoir. The Region N Plan calls for water conservation and an increase in per capita per day use. Municipal water use will increase as population grows. Industrial water use will also increase.

The proposed pipeline from Choke Canyon to Corpus Christi will impact an ecologically significant stream segment on the Nueces River. The plan will increase the amount of water withdrawn from the Gulf Coast Aquifer.

The Region P Water Plan supports the Texana Phase 2 reservoir, which has been permitted. The plan also calls for desalinization and defines groundwater sustainability. 10% of water in the plan comes from surface water and 90% comes from groundwater.

The rice industry depends on low cost water. The Plan calls for an increase in groundwater use for rice irrigation.

The Region M Water Plan calls for the Brownsville Weir to be constructed on the Rio Grande River. The Plan also calls for aggressive water conservation and identifies the need for a water availability model for the Rio Grande. The plan relies on the Rio Grande for the bulk of its water supply. The plan also calls for a $100 million in agricultural conservation. Reuse of water is also recommended as a strategy for meeting the region's water needs.

Texas has 23 major river basins. The state is highly biologically diverse and the economy of Texas depends on this diversity. Texas has over 191,000 miles of rivers and streams that provide habitat for 247 species of fishes. Sportfishing generates almost $6.4 billion per year. Texas has by far the richest bird diversity in the United States. In 1996 bird watching generated $1.2 billion in Texas.

Water rights are granted on a perpetual basis. Many streams in the state are over-appropriated. Most water rights do not have provisions for environmental maintenance flows. Data indicates that some aquatic systems have been degraded due to dams and reduced stream flow.

Surface water rights are subject to the prior appropriation system -first in time, first in right - that allow diversion by older rights before meeting the needs of new water rights. Older rights usually lacked environmental consideration or provisions for maintaining instream flows.

At least 5 native Texas fishes are now extinct and 3 more are extirpated throughout the Texas portion of their range. 20% of Texas fish are threatened with extinction or extirpation from the Texas portion of their range. With 31 state and federally-listed endangered aquatic animals Texas ranks in the top 5 for numbers of endangered aquatic species. By the mid 1980's 52% of Texas wetlands were lost.

29 watersheds in Texas are identified as critical for conserving at-risk and mussel species.

Of the 281springs that were identified as historically significant, more than 80 have failed completely. Over half of the state's water needs are satisfied by groundwater, a number of the state's largest springs continue to be at risk.

There is decreased biological diversity in East Texas streams. Replacement of freshwater biota with saltwater biota in the lower Rio Grande has now occurred. Native fish have been displaced by exotics and there is a reduced distribution of sensitive aquatic species.

Water needs to be provided to protect and maintain instream flows throughout the state. Strategies include instream use permits, the Texas Water Trust, watershed approach, water quality standards, new legislation, The Public Trust Doctrine, and allocation vs adjudication.

The Coastal Bend is an arid region. The quantity, timing, and location of freshwater inflows are critical for maintaining the health of bay and estuary systems. Provisions to ensure that freshwater reaches bay and estuary systems are also critical for maintaining the health of those systems. Monitoring is important for determining the health of bay and estuary systems.

Flow requirements for a bay and estuary system relies on historic stream gauge data, bay salinity model, and fisheries model. Monthly delivery of freshwater to bay and estuaries depends on historic data, salinity model, establishment of monthly targets, and pass-through requirements for reservoirs.

Location is important for maintaining natural salinity gradients in bay and estuary systems. Focus should be on priority areas. Emphasis is on Nueces Bay. Inflow into Nueces Bay is directed to the upper delta. The delta is the heart of the estuary.

For drought provisions relief should be based on demonstrated need and reservoir levels.

Drought provisions should be phased-in with other drought actions. Alternatives such as use of treated affluent should be developed to Satisfy "Minimum" Inflow Requirements.

Stream gauges are located above reservoirs for inflow monitoring. There is a stream gauge at Calallen and a salinity monitor in Nueces Bay. Quantification of return flow is critical.

Coastal Bend wetlands have been preserved through purchase.

Many people don't understand the importance of freshwater flows. Marine life depends on fresh water flows. Freshwater flows support important features in bays such as seagrass. Texas bays are highly diverse and productive. Bays are economic assets to Texas. Bays support tourism, fishing, and sightseers. According to Texas A&M University Texas bays are worth about $4 billion annually. Dockside value is estimated at $175 million. Both commercial and recreational fishing are critical for the health of the coastal economy.

Whooping cranes are still endangered. The population has a 4% growth rate. 180 whooping cranes was the record high. 74 are in the wild as of 2001. 12 to 16 adults die a year. Genetics for the whooping cranes come from very few individuals. Threats to whooping cranes include genetics, loss of wetland habitat, power lines, West Nile Virus, and red tide, which makes clams toxic to whooping cranes.

The connection between inflows and whooping cranes is blue crabs. Blue crabs make up 80% to 90% of Whooping crane diet. Whooping cranes eat 70 to 80 crabs a day. Whooping cranes lose energy reserves during winter from lack of blue crabs. If Whooping cranes lose energy reserves they will fail to nest. More Whooping cranes die when there is a lack of blue crabs. Six Whooping cranes died in 2001.

High inflow into bays results in high numbers of blue crabs. A 1980 study shows reduced inflows will result in a 28% decline in blue crabs by 2040. Whooping cranes have trouble drinking freshwater when salinity increases. When salinity increases Whooping cranes make flights inland to get freshwater. These inland flights use up energy reserves.

Water projects are headed toward a collision with the Endangered Species Act over inflows for blue crabs. There are currently proposals to divert water away from delta of the Guadalupe River to the City of San Antonio.

Texas water law needs mechanisms to ensure that there are freshwater inflows to maintain a healthy estuary.

The Brownsville Weir is a project that came up at the wrong time and wrong place because it will result in cumulative impacts to endangered species. Flows in the Rio Grande have been cut off by cumulative impacts. To increase flow the International Boundary and Water Commission began cutting brush along the Rio Grande. The International Boundary and Water Commission got sued because the cutting of brush was destroying ocelot and jagirundi habitat. As a result of the lawsuit the International Boundary and Water Commission had to consult with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service over the impacts to ocelot and jagirundi habitat. The outcome of the consultation was that the International Boundary and Water Commission must maintain ocelot and jagirundi habitat.

The Brownsville Weir will back up water for 38 miles when the reservoir is full. The water backed up by the weir will kill vegetation that provides habitat for the cats. Loss of the vegetation will prevent cats from moving between refuges.

The impact of the Brownsville Weir combined with the impacts of the Operation Rio Grande and brush clearing by the International Boundary and Water Commission would result in jeopardy of both cats. The Brownsville Weir would also make the protection of the border from smuggling and for national security more difficult.

State Senator (D-20), the Dean of the Texas Senate, has been a champion on environmental issues in the Texas Senate for 30 years. Long before the SB 1 state water planning process began, Senator Truan convened annual conferences in South Texas on water supply issues. Senator Truan has a wealth of knowledge on the issue, and a passion for protecting the environment.

During his address Senator Truan reiterated the call for water conservation. Senator Truan noted that precious little attention has been paid to this critical method for supplying more water to future users by doing a better job of currently available supplies.

Senator Truan also encouraged Hispanics to take a more active role in environmental matters, and asked the Sierra Club to do whatever it can to facilitate the addition of more Hispanics and other people of color to its membership. Senator Truan also urged the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations to form new partnerships with Hispanic advocacy groups for mutual gain. All present agreed that greater inclusiveness, diversity, and partnering would make the Texas environmental movement even stronger and better able to face the challenges of environmental injustice, saving open land, keeping rivers and streams healthy, clamping down on air pollution, and creating more park space for Texas' predominantly urban population.

The subject of Yolanda's talk was the water conservation plan for the City of Corpus Christi.

The per capita water use in Corpus Christi is 140 gallons per day. A major goal of the city is to limit unaccounted-for water from the city's system to no more than 10%. This can be done through a program to educate the City's water customers and provide incentives to modify consumption habits.

On the education front, all Corpus Christi schools now have access to the "Major Rivers" Program. Yolanda also mentioned the "Learning to Be Wise" water program, showed samples of educational literature that the city's water department distributes, and discussed team efforts between the water department, Corpus Christi Xeriscape Coalition, and the Beautify Corpus Christi Association. This effort included a review of the city's landscape ordinance and a decision to require that the seven principles of Xeriscape be incorporated in all commercial development within the city. More information on this program is available at www.ci.corpus-christi.gov

South Texas has a water deficit. Our water sources are finite. In order to prepare for and deal with drought in our area we must monitor our drought potential and take preemptive action before the onset of severe drought. To deal with the threat of drought we need to augment our water supply, raise public awareness, and promote conservation.

Since the drought is already here, what do we do? We restrict water use and we get the public to buy in to this policy by intensifying public education and encouraging voluntary conservation. Water restrictions should set thresholds to go into effect and should be gradually ramped up. For example, during drought, water restrictions can be done through fixed allotment, % reduction, price structures, restricting specific uses, service outages, and conservation credits.

Drought is here to stay. We can use it to make positive proactive longterm changes in the way we use this finite resource and we must have buy in from the public.

South Texas has an arid climate and frequent droughts (many of which are severe). South Texas has a lot of agriculture that needs water. There are dryland and irrigated row crops as well as pasture/rangeland. Water efficiency on rangelands is related to vegetative cover and soil surface. Row Crops can be irrigated different ways. The issues with agricultural water conservation are allocation, over allocation, reallocation, and conservation vs. effective use.

The presentation was designed to give the attendees a better understanding of what groundwater is and how numerical models can be used to manage these resources. 

There is great concern for surface water quality and the maintenance of flow rates in various rivers and streams across the State, however few people seem to make the connection that groundwater, not runoff, is the main source of stream flow. 

Because of this, increased groundwater extraction can reduce water levels in the aquifer outcrop area, which in turn can reduce the discharge of groundwater to rivers, thus reducing river flow rates.

Mr. Leal noted that there are many misconceptions about desalination, even though cities along the Texas coast have studied it at length as a possible means of meeting their future water needs. Texas citizens are still not eager to bear the costs of water desalination.

Mr. Leal spoke at length about the physical and chemical processes involved in deslination. There are various methods for achieving desalination, with the membrane technique being the most common.

Water marketing is simply the sale of water between willing buyers and sellers. You can buy water or water rights. It is a market transaction and can be done with actual water or water rights. We can avoid developing new water resources if we are more efficient with what we have. An economist is always looking for the highest value use. In this case, it would be human consumption. With this highest use identified, water marketing becomes a transfer of water used on agriculture to water used by municipalities. Some say that a 5% transfer from agricultural to municipal use will cover the need for 25 years. 25% of water is lost in leaky pipes, etc. If people from some African countries or many other countries saw how much clean water we just pour onto the ground they would be horrified.

Regulatory processes to keep water in streams have largely failed. Regional water plans won’t help much either (few of the regional plans consider environmental needs). So how do you provide water for the environment? You buy water or water rights. Maybe we can buy water in markets in the same way the Nature Conservancy buys land for the environment.

One way in which water marketing will benefit the environment is if farmers can sell some of their water rights and use the money to invest in conservation. However, we must make sure that all the water being sold to municipalities does not ruin the rural way of life. A threat posed by water marketing is that it places too much emphasis on the economic value of water (and no value on water for the environment). The shrimp and the salamander do not have bank accounts.

The economics of groundwater are completely different from the economics of surface water. The rule of capture for groundwater encourages a perverse "keeping up with the Joneses" in that in order to hold onto water under your property, you have to pump as fast as or faster than your neighbor. The worst case is pumping the aquifers to depletion. Groundwater is the case where water marketing can do the most harm. The legislature should modify the rule of capture.

The Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1 in 1997. SB1 provided for a new "bottom up" approach to the water planning process. The groups planned for water needs over the next 50 years. The regional water plans were due in January 2001 and the final statewide plan (prepared by Texas Water Development Board) is due in January 2002.

For the purpose of generating the regional water plans, the state was divided into 16 regions and regional planning groups were established in those areas. Each group completed their respective plans on time. There are concerns that most of the regional plans do not pay adequate attention to environmental needs for water and there are concerns about the cost effectiveness of proposed water projects.

The draft state water plan has just been released and the second round of regional planning is getting underway. The TWDB will be taking comments on the draft State Water Plan until November 12^th. Copies of it are available on their website at http://www.twdb.state.tx.us. 

The Living Waters Project partners have developed a website called Texas Water Matters. It has recent articles about water issues around the state, information about the economic principles behind sound water planning, and specific information about water planning in your region as well as lots of other information on water. You can access it at http://www.texaswatermatters.org

The Texas Water Resources Institute has a website that covers a variety of water related issues. You can access it at http://twri.tamu.edu