According to Save Our Springs Alliance a coalition of environmental groups are asking the City of Austin to "preserve and protect what's already been spent" constructing Water Treatment Plant #4, and halt construction. When it comes to the next 20 years of Austin water, Save Our Springs believes we need more efficiency, not more treatment capacity.

Re: Water Treatment Plant #4, SOS Says:

1. We need a water efficient economy. Ground-based water supplies are decreasing. Water capacity is finite. Droughts are expected to increase in coming years. Finishing WTP4 means devoting over $1B to increasing water treatment capacity, an unwise direction. Yet according to the City Austin has more than 140 miles of leaky pipes in its current water delivery system. Austin's plumbing leaks billions of gallons of water every year. Construction and operation of Water Treatment Plant #4 will not remediate that problem.
    
2. The City admits water usage is already decreasing. "When it rains, we use less. When there's drought, we use less." Even as Austin continues to rapidly grow, and even in this record drought, 2011's peak water usage is well below the peak record set 10 years ago, in 2001. Environmentalists believe this trend demonstrates Austinites' ability to make more efficient use of their water and that programs to reduce the City's water waste and improve our community's water usage are more in the public interest than increasing water treatment capacity. 
    
3. Water rates will skyrocket as a result of this project. SOS believes water rates will increase 66% over the next 5 years as a result of the WTP4 project. Investing in water efficiency would, of course, reverse such a trend for bill payers. To learn more about the SOS view on how your bills will increase visit SaveWaterSaveMoney.org.

Here's a series of images from the US Drought Monitor showcasing what seems like an endless summer. (Dark red shows heavy drought.) Note that the US Drought Monitor expects this year's heavy drought to continue in Central Texas through at least October 2011: 

4/5/11

5/17/11

 

6/28/11

8/16/2011