With the booming Houston, Texas population, city developers, both residential and commercial, are having to prepare. Worries over the impending water shortage are throwing quite a curve ball for developers. Houston typically averages about forty-five inches of rain each year, and it is supplemented by abundant water from Jasper Aquifer and the Lakes from Houston and Conroe. But with the projected population of Houston to be around 5.7 million in the coming decades, the demand for water is going to reach the pinnacle of demand.
Much of Texas remains under moderate, even some severe cases, of drought, and efforts are being made to improve the water infrastructure of the city. Voters had recently approved state funding efforts for $2 billion in order to fund these projects for the next fifty years! In a projected year, Carlos Rubinstein of the State Water Board hopes to start spending this money from the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas.
Home-builders are also making efforts to build homes that are more environmentally friendly and save water, such as smart dishwashers and dual-flush toilets. Because outdoor irrigation is heavily tied to Houston water use, builders are looking to use more “drought tolerant” grasses like Bermuda. With master planned communities making plans to go green, Houston analysts hope that the city can slowly make improvements to the water infrastructure project and curb the water shortage.