By Ken Kramer, Water Resources Chair. Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club

Sometimes the subject of water may seem unimportant compared to so many immediate issues of consequence – gun violence, medical care, immigration, racism, and others. After all, we expect that when we turn on the tap, clean water is going to flow, and that’s it.

Then, something unexpected happens – like a massive water main break. Suddenly water goes to the top of the agenda. That’s what happened in H-town on February 27 when a major City-owned water transmission line broke and water burst into the air and flowed out to the surrounding area – flooding portions of East Loop 610, vehicles on the freeway, and nearby homes and buildings. The break resulted in a tremendous drop in water pressure that led the City of Houston to shut off water to some areas and issue a boil water notice elsewhere. 

As of this writing, the City is working to repair the leak and get the system back to normal. In the meantime, however, many schools and businesses had to close for the time being. A tremendous disruption of people’s lives and a hit to the local economy, even if short-term for most people.

We don’t know yet how much potable water was lost through the water main break, but it will be a big number. What many people may not know, however, is that the City of Houston loses a high volume of its water each year through ongoing pipeline leaks, frequent water line breaks, and other problems – not to mention a certain volume of water that may be illegally taken or not properly accounted for through faulty water meters. 

These things may not be as dramatic as the massive water main break in East Houston, but the waste of valuable water is tremendous. The City of Houston’s most recent water loss audit report filed with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) – reflecting 2018 data – shows that the City had a total adjusted water loss of about 15%. In other words, in that year over 17 billion gallons of water (yes, that’s “b” as in billions) pumped from city surface water reservoirs and groundwater wells was lost – and all but about 2.6 billion gallons were real, physical losses through leaking pipelines and water line breaks.

Unfortunately, this is not a recent problem. A story in the Houston Chronicle in December 2013 reported that the City “gushed about 22.4 billion gallons of water in 11,343 leaks” in the previous fiscal year. The article said that “enough water seeped from broken pipes to supply 383,000 residents for one year.”

The reasons for this volume of water loss are multi-fold, including aging infrastructure (the 2013 Chronicle article noted that at the time about 40 percent of the City’s water pipes were past the average 50-year life expectancy – there have been some replacements since then). Moreover, soil conditions in the Houston area create movement that may lead to pipeline cracks and breaks. Finally, the cost of replacing and repairing lines in a service area the size of Houston is enormous, and – frankly – water is not priced to reflect its true value, so raising the revenue to meet that expense is difficult, if not impossible.

However, the fact remains that City residents are paying for all that lost water – their rates are higher because the City is not capturing revenue from that water, plus the City continues to pursue development of new water supplies (at an ever higher cost) despite no effective program to end its water losses or, for that matter, achieve greater water conservation.

The need to control water loss has gotten the attention of the Region H Water Planning Group in its new draft water supply plan for the region that includes Houston (see the previous edition of The Water Column for background on regional water planning). In the new draft plan, known as the “Initially Prepared Plan” (IPP), the planners project that by 2070 over 20 billion gallons of water a year could be saved via water loss control measures if water utilities in the region reduce their water loss by an annual average of 1% a year until their water loss is no more than 10%. 

The consultants assisting the Region H Planning Group actually recommended that the target water loss for utilities be set at 5%. Ironically, the City of Houston and other utilities argued successfully for the less ambitious 10% target. Much more water could be saved if utilities would pursue the 5% goal.

Getting Region H to set a more aggressive water loss control target is probably going to take public pressure, and that’s only one aspect of the draft regional water plan that needs public feedback. Fortunately, that public review and comment opportunity is coming. The Region H IPP will be formally submitted to the Water Development Board March 3, and it will be posted to the Region H website (http://www.regionhwater.org/) shortly thereafter. Information about how to submit comments will be provided. 

There will also be three public hearings on the draft water plan, scheduled in the northern, central, and southern parts of the region – Madisonville (April 16), Conroe (April 23), and Richmond (April 21). Each hearing will begin at 6 PM. Going to a public hearing is difficult for many people, but the public comment period is lengthy, going into the summer.

The next edition of The Water Column will summarize the key points of the regional water plan and provide some suggested comments for members of the public, including thoughts about water loss control. In the meantime, keep your eye out for pipeline leaks and water main breaks in your neighborhood.