We recently spoke to a Californian whose job had just moved him to Austin, Texas, where Banyan Water is headquartered. He said he’d always assumed, probably from watching movies, that Texas was just one big desert. You can imagine his pleasant surprise when he arrived to find Austin’s rolling hills, clear lakes, spring-fed pools, plentiful creeks and winding greenbelts throughout the city. Drive a couple of hours in any direction and you find more lakes, rivers and creeks. Water is big in Texas.
Great resources for water information in Texas
Of course, parts of the state are desert. And like California, Texas has often battled drought conditions along with all of the related effects and costs. Banyan Water partners with clients all across the United States. Since we’re headquartered in Austin and many of our clients are in the state, we can’t help thinking a lot about water in Texas.
Fortunately for us, we aren’t the only ones focusing on water and innovative water-saving methods in the state. The Texas water community shares a wealth of information, including extensive online resources. Banyan Water experts frequently dig into various sources of information in order to make smart water decisions. Here’s a list of our favorite Texas-based water websites.
Texas A&M AgriLife Water Education Network
http://water.tamu.edu/resources/
Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension provides extensive research, information, and data on a variety of topics, water being one of them. On this site, users can find online training courses, information on water management programs for homeowners, businesses or agriculture, and links to information on just about any water-related topic. While they focus on Texas, much of the information on the site is useful for a larger, national audience.
On a separate section of the site, they provide excellent data for calculating evapotranspiration in soil, which is crucial in calculating the exact amount of water needed to keep plants healthy.
Austin Water
http://www.austintexas.gov/department/water
The City of Austin has been managing severe droughts for years, and is now managing floods due to recent rains. In part because of these extremes, Austin Water has developed a wealth of information about water conservation for both residents and commercial water users. Resources here include information about auditing your irrigation system, case studies of businesses that are effectively saving water and leak detection advice. If you happen to be located in Austin, it’s also a great idea to check out their rebate programs. They have programs for quite a few water-saving activities that you may already be eligible for.
Texas Water Resources Institute
http://twri.tamu.edu
The Texas Water Resources Institute provides a collection of information about water in Texas including access to watershed protection plans from across the state. They are also associated with the Texas Water Journal, a peer reviewed publication dedicated to, (what else) water in Texas.
InvestH2O
http://www.investh2o.com
AccelerateH2O, a group dedicated to developing innovative water-focused technology in Texas, just held their annual event, InvestH2O. The event website has some good white papers and reports, as well as access to the presentations that were shared during the event. These contain some great information about the state of water overall, and advances in water innovation in Texas.
Texas Water Conservation Association
http://www.texaswca.com
This site has some interesting sections, but our favorite part is their recaps of water-related legislation in the “Legislative News” section. This provides snapshot of the various bills and legislation that might be of interest to water users of all types
Our next post will talk about the information resources we use to learn more about water nationwide and across the world.