To: The Texas State House, The Texas State Senate, and Governor Greg Abbott
Texas Legislature: Stop Water Hogs
I urge you to support tough, mandatory water conservation standards on some of the state's biggest water hogs, including oil and gas companies. Without a dramatic change from business as usual, Texas’ water scarcity problem will only get worse.
Why is this important?
Last year, we saw one of the worst droughts in history: Reservoirs dipped to record-lows. Stretches of the Rio Grande, Brazos and Guadalupe rivers ran dry. As many as 500 million trees across Texas died. And we're not out of the woods yet: 72% of Texas is still in drought and 11 reservoirs are still less than 10 percent full.
Meanwhile, billions of gallons of water are withdrawn from our rivers every year only to be wasted, as drilling companies fail to recycle their wastewater, agribusinesses waste water in unlined ditches, and power companies forego modern technologies in favor of outdated methods.
As these companies sap two-thirds of Texas' water, it's become all too clear: Individual action is not enough to solve our problems long-term. To get the job done, we need our lawmakers in Austin to crack down on our worst corporate water hogs.
Meanwhile, billions of gallons of water are withdrawn from our rivers every year only to be wasted, as drilling companies fail to recycle their wastewater, agribusinesses waste water in unlined ditches, and power companies forego modern technologies in favor of outdated methods.
As these companies sap two-thirds of Texas' water, it's become all too clear: Individual action is not enough to solve our problems long-term. To get the job done, we need our lawmakers in Austin to crack down on our worst corporate water hogs.