Posted on 08/14/2012 8:48:05 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
Faced with a booming population and a disappearing water supply, the city of San Antonio responded by dramatically cutting consumption, pioneering new storage techniques and investing in water recycling and desalination projects. It now boasts that it is "Water's Most Resourceful City."
There are so many programs and projects that Chuck Ahrens of Water Resources and Conservation with the San Antonio Water System can hardly keep track.
"I made myself a list and I thought, 'Wow, I don't even know all of our programs.' But then I thought it would be asking a lot to remember all of our programs because we have a lot of them," says Ahrens. His list includes big money projects like desalination. But the city's greatest success is found in simple conservation.
"We have an ordinance that doesn't allow you to water after 10 in the morning and before 8," Ahrens says.
That's to curb evaporation. He says the city has also given out more than a quarter-million water-efficient toilets. The city also offers free audits to show homeowners where they can save water. And if they can't afford new pipes, Ahrens says the city has a program called Plumbers to People.
"Where they know they have a leak, we go ahead and take care of that for them," he says.
These are the things that have allowed San Antonio to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the country while not increasing water consumption. In fact, the city still uses about the same amount of water it did in the early '90s even though it has added more than 300,000 residents.
"Other cities have the advantage that they can see that San Antonio has managed water conservation and we are still growing," says Calvin Finch of Texas A&M's Water Conservation and Technology Center.
But exporting that expertise can be dicey. A few years ago, Water System Director Robert Puente went to Atlanta when it was facing serious drought.
"And so, I and our chief financial officer went out there and gave some talks and made some presentations. They were, I would say, well-received but they did leave scratching their heads. They didn't necessarily understand or agree with what we were doing here in Texas," Puente says.
Puente says his entire business model — to persuade customers to buy less of his product — seems backward in parts of the country where drought is uncommon. In San Antonio the more water you use, the more you pay per gallon. Currently only about half of water utilities across the country do that.
"There's a number of communities that still reward extra water use. Just like if you buy in volume you get a discount," Finch says.
San Antonio also funds conservation programs. But, Puente points out, all that investment pays off when water shortages hit.
National Pubic(sic) Radio
be still my heart....I aint gonna read it.
I wonder if part of their policy is jailing people who dare use rain water catchment systems, thereby “stealing” the city’s water?
Just the opposite, they encourage catching the rain water to reduce demand on the city supply from lawn sprinklers.
http://www.saws.org/conservation/newsletter/enews/issue.cfm?id=147
***be still my heart...I aint gonna read it.***
Just go right to the source:
http://www.saws.org/watercitysa/
Good for San Antonio.
Hope they’re ready for zebra mussels.
I applaud them on their water conservation but there is more to this story that isn’t being told. Why has SAWs been agressively trying to tap into aquafers south of Bexar County.
Build that above ground water source and stay out of our aquafer.
Persons of Native American descent were performing successful rain dances but the Freedom From Religion group sued to stop the practice since water service is a public utility.
San Antonio has for decades refused to build a reservoir north of the city because the greens oppose it. As a result they are drawing and pumping water from areas as close as 20 miles from Houston.
This article is total BS. SA is trying to take as much water as possible from other communities so that they don’t have to build the reservoir. They are hated in Eastern Texas.
San Antonio could have several Corp of Engineer lakes to its northwest. They refused to have them built, and now that area is too developed.
Now, they want to buy water from the Lower Colorado River Authority and drain the highland lakes more than the current cities that are draining the lakes.
“San Antonio has for decades refused to build a reservoir north of the city because the greens oppose it”
you should post this at PBS and the original site.
Your post made me question the motive of the greens...are they just in it for money and not true conservation? Do they fund their programs through federal funding like the save energy for the poor programs and weatherization of homes?
"Where they know they have a leak, we go ahead and take care of that for them," he says.
What a generous man, he is. He takes money out of his own pocket to help the citizens of his city.
Or does he?
No, this is yet, more proof that he forgets where this money comes from. It comes from the taxpayers.
The city didn't 'give out' water-saving toilets. The taxpayers footed the bill for these 250,000 toilets.
No doubt, some company is charging a pretty penny for these crappers and the city doesn't care because the money isn't coming out of their pockets. The taxpayers are eating the costs.
The city doesn't 'fix' leaks for the citizens. The taxpayers are footing the bill.
And, if we were to dig a little deeper, we'd probably find that some plumbers are getting pretty sweet deals by charging exorbitant fees to perform this work and billing the city's taxpayers.
SAWS is pretty much hated out of Bexar county... the city is too durn big to survive off of the Edwards.
If you say SAWS in Guadalupe or Gonzales County you better be cussin’
Cause its a cuss word in these parts.
They are pumpin from the Carizo Wilcox Aquifer to quench thier thirst and that hurts the ranchers in these parts for sure.
Water Saving Toilets my arse...
three flushes to do what one flush used to do...
remember this is NPR and a press release from the city of SA so they hope the sheeple will read it and “feel good” about being “green”
They have an environmental court?
Oh, boy!
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