The Current

Edition: September 2023

The Current is the monthly newsletter of Innovative Water Solutions where he 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: Chris’ Peace Corps Story
• FAQ Post of the Month: What is a graywater reuse system?
• Residential Project of the Month: Whole house potable system in Spicewood
• Commercial Project of the Month: Pedernales River State Park graywater system
• Water News: The world’s highest navigable lake is drying out
• Water News: Blanco strictly limits water usage
• Water News: 5 interesting facts you may not know about water
• Water Conservation Tips: Tools to help conserve indoors
• Current Texas Drought Conditions
• Current Texas Water Calendar
• Video: Arizona to pause new construction over water supply issues
• Current water restrictions

This residential project serves as the client’s whole house water source in Spicewood Texas.  Installed in 2016, the homeowner has benefited from having their own water source for seven years now.   They also are a member of our Maintenance Package Program, meaning they never have to worry about changing their filters or UV light bulb.  Our team schedules and performs these visits as needed, taking the guesswork out of maintaining the cleanliness of the system.

Pedernales River State Park is a historic watering hole with history dating back to 10,000 B.C.E.  Early settlers and native tribes relied on the flowing river for a clean and reliable source of water.  Lake Travis, and the drinking water supply for Austin, now relies on the Pedernales River for over 25% of its volume.  Aiding in the conservation of this resource, the park hired Innovative Water Solutions to install and maintain a graywater reclamation system.  The water from restroom sinks is collected, treated with a sand filter and stored.  The water is then later released to aid in irrigation, this helps conserve water for current and future park visitors.

Water levels at Lake Titicaca – the highest navigable lake in the world and South America’s largest – are dropping precipitously after an unprecedented heat wave. The shocking decline is affecting tourism, fishing and agriculture, which locals rely on to make a living.

“We don’t know what we will do from now until December because the water will keep getting lower,” said 63-year-old Nazario Charca, who lives on the lake and makes a living ferrying tourists around its waters.

Visitors have long been attracted to the blue waters and open skies of South America’s largest lake, which straddles more than 3,200 square miles across the border of Peru and Bolivia.

A small Texas city west of Austin remains under tight water restrictions amid a significant drought. After days of being at the highest emergency level for water conservation, officials said Monday that those restrictions have only slightly been loosened, limiting water consumption to “indoor use only” until further notice.

The city of Blanco’s most recent water conservation problem has been ongoing since at least mid-June, when the mayor issued an update saying that the “city’s water supply is vulnerable.” Blanco’s water plant was not working at the time, officials said, but even if it were, a local river was “too low for us to take water out of it.”

The city’s water provider, the Texas Water Company, draws drinking water from the Canyon Lake Reservoir, according to the company.

Canyon Lake has been seeing declining water levels for months. As of Tuesday, it’s just under 73% full, according to a map from the Texas Water Development Board, with its reservoir storage having dropped more than 23,300 acre-feet over the past six months.

“Canyon Lake is dropping, and the long pipeline is fragile,” the mayor’s office said last month. “We MUST find a better, sustainable source of water.”

The health of almost every other living being on Earth relies on water to survive.

Both the human brain and a living tree is made up of about 75% water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The abundance of water is in danger as climate change continues to worsen.

1) We could be gulping down the same water that dinosaurs drank
2) Nearly 97% of the world’s water is undrinkable
3) Each person in the US uses about 50 gallons of water per day
4) Lower water levels could negatively affect the environment
5) It takes an incredible amount of water to grow food

Indoor Water Conservation Tools

Faucet Aerator
Aerators screw on to the end of kitchen and bathroom faucets. They mix air into the stream of water, reducing the amount of water flowing from your faucet. WaterSense labeled aerators can reduce water use by 20% or more without reducing water pressure.

Toilet Dye Tablets & Toilet Dye Strips
Toilet dye tablets or strips are placed in the toilet tank to find toilet leaks, including slow and silent leaks. It only takes one tablet or strip and 20 minutes to check for costly toilet leaks!

High-Efficiency Shower Head
Standard shower heads use 2.5 gallons of water each minute that water is flowing. High efficiency shower heads can use up to 50% less water. Low-flow no longer means low water pressure: WaterSense shower heads must perform as well or better than standard ones!

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

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