WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Summertime is just around the corner, meaning more water will be used as people look to water their lawns and fill up their pools.
25News' Bobby Poitevint took a deeper look at how local and state officials are working to make sure we have water now and in the future.
During a recent interview, Woodway officials told us that water usage could increase to about 7 to 8 million gallons daily during summer months — which can be double or triple other usage periods throughout the year.
“We were buying more water from Waco, which is more expensive than us producing our own. In hot, dry months, it’s tough to keep up with demand" Mitch Davison, the Woodway Director of Community Services, said.
The Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District manages the groundwater in Burnett County.
According to their website:
"The Board of Directors on December 20, 2024, voted to impose mandatory reductions for permitted users of a 15% decrease from the total annual permitted production volume for non-exempt permit holders effective January 1, 2025, until December 31, 2025, or until terminated."
This impacts the water usage of users like larger municipalities and more significant industrial users.
The district has had this in place for the past two years, also.
Mitchell Sodek, the general manager, said, “while the direct measure of mandatory reductions may not be measurable, educating the general public is valuable to us. So just spreading the word that we are in a drought and we should be conserving is a valuable point in itself."
Five months later, he told us our water system is still being strained as the state's population continues to grow, but efforts are in place to help conserve the state's water supply.
Those efforts include:
- A recent executive order allowed Texas farmers along the Rio Grande River to use water for irrigation.
- An optimistic talk with Mexico about them paying partially for their water debt to Texas.
- Governor Greg Abbott made water infrastructure an emergency for this year’s legislative session.
“So things are moving forward, and we’re a lot more optimistic now than we were in September," Miller said.
