1997 State Water Plan

1997 Water Plan Cover image The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) since 1957, has been charged with preparing a comprehensive and flexible long-term plan for the development, conservation, and management of the state's water resources. The last water plan developed at the state level, Water for Texas, was produced by the TWDB in cooperation with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, and numerous stakeholder groups. Water for Texas, dated August 1997, outlines current and future needs for water and wastewater treatment projects in Texas for the next fifty years.

State financing priorities can be assigned to these projects based on needs defined in the plan. State water policy issues and alternatives also are discussed in this plan. Non-traditional water management strategies such as water conservation, wastewater reuse, and conjunctive use of surface and ground water sources are recommended, where appropriate. A method to help ensure an appropriate balance between human and environmental water needs, including assumptions for instream flow and bay/estuary inflows, was developed by the three cooperating state agencies and is described in Water for Texas.

Future State Water Plans, including the one due January 5, 2002, will be based on approved regional water plans, pursuant to requirements of Senate Bill 1, enacted by the 75th Texas Legislature. Regional water planning groups are currently working to direct the preparation of plans for sixteen distinct regional water planning areas, which must be completed by January 5, 2001. These regional plans will consider data included in Water for Texas and will describe their respective regional planning areas, present population and water demand information, evaluate adequacy of current water supplies, identify water surpluses or needs by region, and develop plans to meet identified water needs under three dry weather scenarios. Unique stream segments and reservoir sites will be identified, and policy recommendations also will be included in the 2002 State Water Plan.

No remaining hardcopies of the of the 1997 State Water Plan exist. For an electronic copy of the 1997 State Water Plan, in PDF format, select the desired chapter below.  (You need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these documents.)

Top