Can Rainwater Harvesting Bring Water Security To The Hill Country?

Boerne’s upcoming Texas Water Symposium will discuss innovative rainwater use as an alternative to skyrocketing water costs.

Declining aquifer levels and the rapidly rising cost of water supply and management has prompted suppliers, builders, and homeowners across the region to turn to alternative sources of water. As we look to a long-term future of increasing population growth and demand on groundwater resources, how can individuals, businesses, and cities create sustainable water supply in innovative ways? How can we incentivize water independence and conservation?

“Over the next 50 years the population of Texas is expected to double. Already, there are places in Texas that are experiencing water shortages because demand is outpacing supply. In the Texas Hill Country, many people are choosing rainwater over groundwater not only for its ease and availability, but also for its taste, purity, and reduced cost…” Milan J. Michalec, President of the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District in Kendall County.

Increasingly, these stakeholders are turning to rainwater as a viable source of water for landscape irrigation, in-home and commercial uses. Cities are now utilizing rainwater harvesting as an innovative stormwater management strategy. Texas, and the Hill Country, is known as a region of rainwater harvesting innovation nationwide.

Rainwater Harvesting: Innovative Uses and Water Security brings together Texas Public Radio’s “Organic” Bob Webster, State Representative Jason Isaac, local rainwater advocate John Kight, Environmental Scientist Ana Gonzalez, and Water Engineer Troy Dorman in a conversation about sustainable natural solutions to our growing water needs in the Hill Country.

The symposium will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 7 in the upstairs courtroom of the historic Kendall County Courthouse in Boerne, Texas. This is the second event of the 2017-2018 season and marks the 10^th anniversary of the Texas Water Symposium.

This symposium is sponsored by Harvest Rain, and is a partnership project of Schreiner University, Texas Tech University, Texas Public Radio and the Hill Country Alliance.

The Texas Water Symposium is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.TexasWaterSymposium.com, and listen to past shows online from Texas Public Radio. To stay informed about future programs, subscribe at www.hillcountryalliance.org.

The Hill Country Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise public awareness and build community support around the need to preserve the natural resources and heritage of the Central Texas Hill Country. Visit us at www.hillcountryalliance.org.