Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

In Texas, water will be the defining natural resource issue of the twenty-first century—in no small part due to the over appropriation of our state’s rivers.

05—Meaning, there’s more water permitted to be withdrawn from them than is actually in them.

Andrew Sansom is a research professor of geography at Texas State University in San Marcos, and author of Water in Texas. Sansom says current predictions indicate the state’s population will double by 20-40.

12—So, unless we find a way to save water, or produce additional water, we’re going to have a real resource crisis in our state in the next fifteen to twenty years.

Of course, he does not mean we must literally “create” water. He’s referring to making it available to end users.

20—Traditionally, that has been—in our state—the creation of reservoirs. We have over 214 reservoirs in Texas, which were made by human beings, for the purpose of capturing available water supplies and making them available. So, it’s not so much a matter of creating it, as it is capturing it is for our use.

Tomorrow, we’ll explore the role water plays in the urban/rural dynamic.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Conservation Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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