The Current

Edition: December 2023

The Current is the monthly newsletter of Innovative Water Solutions where we highlight the great stuff happening at our company and also bring you up-to-date with some of the current water news that could affect you. We hope you enjoy the newsletter!

• Blog Post of the Month: Garrison Brothers Distillery
• FAQ Post of the Month: The limitations of rain barrels
• Residential Project of the Month: Three tanks, one home!
• Commercial Project of the Month: Horizon Meadows Apartments
• Water News Article #1: West Texas residents take water into their own hands
• Water News Article #2: Everything you need to know about Texas beleaguered water systems
• Water News Article #3: UN warns of “Vampiric” global water use
• Water Conservation Tip: Kids home for the Holidays?
• Current Texas Drought Conditions
• Current Texas Water Calendar
• Video: 2015 interview with Chris Maxwell Gaines

For this residential installation, the clients chose to utilize abundant space by installing three separate catchment systems.  Two 1,000 gallon tanks were installed; one near the sunroom and one near the garage.  A third tank was installed to capture any additional runoff in a slimline style tank.

The captured water will be used to irrigate the lush landscaping that surrounds the property. The homeowner qualified for the City of Austin water conservation rebate program and was awarded around $1,200 in rebate form after completion.

Here is the review the homeowner provided for us:

“We recently had Innovative Water Solutions install some tanks for us – total 2,260 gal. capacity.  They are GREAT! We have two 1,000 gal. tanks and a 260 gal. one.  As luck would have it, we got enough rain right after they finished to fill the tanks to over 90%. We probably won’t need the water ’til next summer if El Nino stays strong, but it’s good to have it in place. We Highly recommend IWS for projects like this, which will become more and more appealing as water becomes scarcer.”

We truly appreciate such great clients!

Horizon Meadows in La Marque Texas is an established apartment complex near the Galveston area.  When the builders were awarded funds to do improvements to the site, they knew rainwater collection was the first priority.  We were able to help design and install a system that met their specific needs.  For example, they were concerned about the high winds that are often an issue near the coast so we went with a Corgal Tank that could withstand strong wind gusts.

The collected water is used to irrigate the grounds, while the overflow from the tank is distributed into a nearby storm detention pond.

During a community meeting in July, residents of four unincorporated communities south of the Texas Panhandle held mason jars filled with brown, cloudy water — visual evidence of the water quality issues that have for decades plagued the more than 300 residents of these rural West Texas communities.

Situated in the outskirts of Lubbock and Shallowater, residents of the four developments have received regular notices of water quality violations from the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental agency. Elevated levels of fluoride, arsenic, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals have made the water undrinkable for nearly two decades, according to TCEQ records, leaving residents to rely on bottled water.

About 65 residents attended the July meeting to create the South Plains Water Supply Corporation, a collaborative public entity that makes the four housing developments eligible to compete for regional, state and federal funding. The newly formed organization, run by a board of directors who represent all four subdivisions, is working quickly to meet an Aug. 31 deadline to apply for approximately $3.3 million from the Texas Water Development Board.

If they receive it, the board plans to use the money to repair broken water treatment and filtration systems.

It’s easy to take water for granted. Millions of Texans turn on their tap every day and clean water flows out. But there are a number of threats to the future of safe, clean drinking water, including unprecedented population growth, climate change and deteriorating infrastructure for water and wastewater.

Texas has a historic state budget surplus and an expected influx of $2.5 billion of water funding from the federal government, making water advocacy groups and stakeholders feel cautiously optimistic. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers coalesced around water issues in January under the new Texas House Water Caucus. And lawmakers are poised to pass a bill that could inject billions of dollars into new water supply projects and repairs to water infrastructure.
But it’s not a done deal yet.

Voters likely will have the final say in the fall when they’re asked to approve a constitutional amendment that would create a new fund to fix our broken pipes.

The world is “blindly travelling a dangerous path” of “vampiric overconsumption and overdevelopment”, the report says. Its publication comes before the first major UN water summit since 1977.  Thousands of delegates will attend the three-day gathering in New York which begins on Wednesday.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says water, “humanity’s lifeblood”, is being drained by “unsustainable water use, pollution and unchecked global warming”.

The report, published by UN Water and Unesco, warns that “scarcity is becoming endemic” because of overconsumption and pollution, while global warming will increase seasonal water shortages in both areas with abundant water and those already strained. Richard Connor, the lead author of the report, said that about 10% of the global population “currently lives in areas that are high or critical water stress”.  “In our report, we say that up to 3.5 billion people live under conditions of water stress at least one month a year,” he told the BBC.

According to the most recent UN climate report, published Monday by the IPCC expert panel, “roughly half of the world’s population currently experience severe water scarcity for at least part of the year”.  Mr Connor told reporters that “uncertainties are increasing” when it comes to global water supply.  “If we don’t address it, there definitely will be a global crisis,” he said.

UNDP Associate Administrator Usha Rao Monari told the BBC that resources would need to be managed more carefully in the future.  “There is enough water on the planet if we manage it more effectively than we have managed it over the last few decades,” she said.  “I think we will have to find new governance models, new finance models, new models of using water and reusing water than ever before. I think that technology and innovation will play a very large role in looking at how to manage the water sector and the use of water.”

With the Holidays upon us, many of us will have kids home from school soon.  They certainly can use a lot of water!  Here are some tips to lighten the load….

1. Use one cup a day for water.  This leads to less water use in multiple ways, there is only one dish to wash and it ensures all the water is drunk before reaching for another cup.
2. Only run full loads of laundry, it can be tempting to wash that one “special” outfit but being patient saves a lot of water!  The same goes for the dishwasher.
3. Make sure the water isn’t running during teeth brushing
4.  Shorten your shower by a minute or two and you’ll save up to 150 gallons in just one month.
5. Lastly, empower your children to be “leak detectives”  they can check for running faucets and be rewarded if they turn them off.

SOURCE: National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

Are you a past client of Innovative Water Solutions?  Do you know we have a referral incentive program?

If you refer a client to us and they contract, we offer the following as a Thank You

Rainwater Potable System: $100 Lowes or Home Depot Gift Card

Rainwater for Irrigation: $25 Lowes or Home Depot Gift Card

Graywater System: $25 Lowes or Home Depot Gift Card

Thirsty for more? See our previous month’s newsletters below.