https://www.texastribune.org/2014/10...-water-gamble/As the San Antonio City Council prepares to take action on a controversial new water supply project, it remains unclear if the $3.4 billion undertaking — which would pipe in 16 billion gallons of groundwater annually from 142 miles away — is really necessary.
The council on Thursday is expected to vote on a contract authorizing the Vista Ridge pipeline. If the deal is approved, San Antonio's water utility would pay Austin-based BlueWater Systems to pump water from underneath Burleson County through a pipeline built by Spanish company Abengoa.
But questions linger: Is buying some of the priciest water ever sold in Texas really about securing a needed long-term water supply for the city after decades of failed attempts? Or is it about keeping lawns green even in the most severe of droughts?
Critics have also raised concerns about whether business interests, instead of the city's needs, are driving the process. "A very small group of people are making a very, very big financial decision," said Amy Hardberger, a fierce pipeline opponent and assistant professor of water law at St. Mary's University. "And it sure seems like ... they're pushing for it because they're going to make money on the back end."
if really interested, TPR has covered this very deeply, and for many months
http://tpr.org/term/saws
a key point I remember from TPR radio was that the Vista Ridge water will be so expensive at $2,300 per acre-foot that SAWS will have resell a bunch of it to keep costs down to SAWS customers.
thx for the link
what I'd vote for, if I, or any citizens, had a voice:
http://www.saws.org/your_water/water...s/ocean_desal/
also, do like Orange County CA, recycle sewer water, pump back into the aquifer.
Danny Forster has two shows on AU's desal
http://www.dannyforster.com/item/aus...nation-project
Thanks for the links b_d I agree.
Given the amount of wind energy on the coast, such a desalinization plant would seem to be doable far before then, IMO.SAWS 2012 Water Management Plan includes an ocean water desalination supply project as a conceptual long-term strategy (2040 - 2070) for San Antonio.
Also something you might find interesting on brackish water, presumedly cheaper to treat:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/loca...as-5846050.php
I also remember seeing some nanotech application where they might be able to cut about 75% of the energy out, since they can make filters far thinner, but couldn't find the news article.
yeah, ocean water has much more in suspension and more TDS, total dissolved solids, than brackish water, but ocean desal is past the pioneering stage and well into large-scale production.
Coastal, and off shore wind, plus solar should be able to power the desal plants and pumping up hill to SA/Austin metros. There are plenty of large scale desal plants as examples, no need to pioneer. 1/3 of CA's electricity production is just for pumping water around the state.
Citizens Concerned about future of Carrizo Aquifer
Arthur said, “I want to look at Bexar County, population-wise, in 1950 they were at 500 thousand, in 1981, one million, 2003 Bexar County population was one and a half million and in 2020 they should be at two million. By 2037, Bexar County population could be around two and a half million. You can see what’s happening. Bexar County is growing and they’re after their neighbor’s water.”
He showed population figures in Atascosa County. Arthur said, “You can see where Atascosa County was, population wise, in 1950. It was almost 20 thousand and then declined until 1970 when we were about 19 thousand. After that we started growing again and here we are in 2013 with 46 thousand people. You project that growth rate out and by 2050 we will be about 86,000.
“We can have a bright future, but we’re going to need groundwater. People in San Antonio are going to need food. I don’t think they’re going to live on anything else. So, we raise crops, we raise cattle and we provide jobs for our young people and feed those city folks, but to to so, we must have an abundant water supply. So, SAWS should pony-up and go to the coast and desalinate seawater like Israel does and leave their rural neighbors alone.”
http://www.pleasantonexpress.com/new...o_Aquifer.html
CC, SA, Austin should build desal plant(s) powered by wind and solar and quit ing around depleting ground water faster that drought-stricken decades can replenish it.
An informative nice job by the posters on ST.
Good to read.
And thanks.
passed:
https://www.texastribune.org/2014/10...-water-gamble/The San Antonio City Council on Thursday [October 30, 2014] unanimously voted in front of a packed chamber to approve a controversial pipeline that would bring in groundwater from 142 miles away. The $3.4 billion project would pipe in 16 billion gallons of water each year from Central Texas' Burleson County.
Known as the Vista Ridge pipeline, the project was pushed by the city's water utility as the best way to shore up a long-term water supply for San Antonio beyond the dwindling Edwards Aquifer, after decades of failed attempts. For more than 30 years, each mayor of the city has promised to secure a new supply, without success.
short sighted. ocean desal, powered by solar + wind, is where all out $Bs should go.
You want solar and wind powered desalinization plants in order to keep SA's lawns green...good plan Boo.
Ultimately this will happen. Long term, Texas will get drier, and the cost of Desal will come down, as the cost of coastal wind does as well.
Demand up, with supply costs going down means it will become much more economically feasible in 10 or 20 years than it is now.
San Antonio doesn't have many options if they want to continue to grow. The Feds put in the pumping limits on the Edwards even though there are billions of gallons below 618 feet. When businesses look at moving to San Antonio our water issue is normally the biggest negative.
... is one of the reasons why SA should get moving on ocean desal now, not in 30 years.
It will obviously be a long project to get defined, proposed, voted, financed, bids, and built, esp if Austin is partner. Will include a huge reservoir (which SA already voted down years ago) as a buffer to be filled "while the sun shines and wind blows" and to be used when sun and wind are not producing. SA should also look at recycling all sewer, rain water back into the aquifer, like Orange County does.
I got the feeling that SAWS and CPSEnergy are fat-assed, self-satisfied, time-serving monopolies, NOT future-thinking, aggressive, creative.
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