“For all the economic and quality of life gains Texas makes, its water supply is not keeping pace. Texas must seriously contemplate prudent policy reforms to safeguard the future of the Texas Miracle.”
Key points:
- Texas needs to substantially increase water supply to meet the drought and economic growth challenges of the coming decades.
- Delivering needed water supplies for Texas is expensive, but the cost of insufficient action is much greater.
- Although the state will continue to be the major source of financing, innovative financing options—especially public-private partnerships—should be increasingly used.
- While new sources of water must be discovered and moved to ensure continued prosperity, traditional values such as private property rights must also be protected.
- State, private, and academic institutions must collaborate to fund and implement research to find and deliver water for municipal and industrial interests.