Executive Summary

Population growth, drought, and climate change are straining the water supplies of Texas communities. Our state’s population is projected to double by 2060. Much of the state is in the throes of a prolonged drought. Climate experts are predicting that the U.S. Southwest will grow signifi cantly drier and hotter in the coming years. The combined challenges of climate change, drought and population growth make it clear that many Texas communities will be increasingly burdened with the responsibility of parceling out a diminishing supply of water to an increasing number of customers.

Nowhere in Texas are these issues more acute than in Central Texas - which is projected to grow at a faster rate than most of the state and is currently in the midst of extreme drought. This study analyzes the challenges posed by population growth, drought and climate change for water availability, as well as the responses to date of Central Texas communities in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (Williamson, Travis and Hays Counties). Our analysis concludes that, while almost all communities within this area are taking additional steps to conserve water, few are embracing the full range of options readily available.

In this issue of Clean Water Currents|Online:

For California Woman, Protecting A River Can Cost You A Job
Heather Wylie traded her job for a river. And, given the choice, she'd do it again.

Texas Clean Water Currents, Summer 2009

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Summer 2009, Volume 37, No. 2

Children's bubble baths should be clean, safe and fun. But No More Toxic Tub, a report published in March 2009 by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in partnership with Clean Water Action and other organizations, found contaminants and other hazardous ingredients in numerous popular shampoos, soaps and body care products marketed to babies and children. The report lists 38 products that were shown to be contaminated with the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane or both, although neither contaminant appears on product labels.

Clean Water Currents|Online, Summer 2009, Volume 37, No. 2

Legislation introduced in the United States Senate April 2 would restore critical Clean Water Act protections lost through six years of confusing and contradictory court and government agency decisions.

The Clean Water Restoration Act was introduced by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-WI, and several co-sponsors.

Clean Water Currents|Online, Summer 2009, Volume 37, No. 2

Clean Water Currents|Online, Summer 2009, Volume 37, No. 2

Surely you've seen the ads. They are scattered around the internet and splashed across our newspapers and magazines. Their commercials interrupt our favorite television shows and invade our local radio station's airspace. Yes, the ads are everywhere. But that doesn't make them true.

No PR campaign, no matter how well executed, can make coal clean. It's simply not possible.

In this issue of Texas Currents|Online:

Lee Leffingwell Endorsed for Austin Mayor
Austin voters will be electing 5 of 7 city council members, including its next mayor, on Saturday May 9. Stakes are higher that usual this year, with unemployment continuing to rise, sales and property tax revenues down, and the city facing a host of challenges related to energy and water consumption, air quality, solid waste, urban sprawl and traffic congestion. Clean Water Action believes that Lee Leffingwell is easily the most qualified mayoral candidate to meet these challenges.

Texas Currents|Online, Summer 2009

Texas Currents|Online, Summer 2009

Thanks to public outcry that led to a change in top management and to the election of reform-minded board members, the scandal-plagued Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) has begun to chart a new course for its future. The PEC is the largest consumer-owned electric cooperative in the nation, with some 225,000 member households.