Sustainable Water Plan for Texas

TCPS began a new project on Texas water planning in 2013. Our goal is to develop recommendations for improving the state water plan process to ensure that it produces a sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally-sound plan for the future. 

This initial work resulted in our 2014 report, “Learning from Drought: Next Generation Water Planning for Texas.”

That report then lead to work in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund on the water-energy nexus, with a focus on cooling water needs for steam electric power generation in Texas.

A follow-up study is now underway to look at the opportunities that could arise for restoring more natural environmental flow regimes with water that will no longer be needed for cooling as some old coal and natural gas fired power plants are closed or their electric power generation reduced and more water efficient technologies for generation of electricity are used.

Thanks to the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, for its generous support for much of this work. 

1206 San Antonio Street, Austin, Texas, 78701, tel. (512) 474-0811
© 2014 Texas Center for Policy Studies