San Antonio Water Situation Improving?

As soon as the city leaders decide whether to invest another $400 million in expanding nuclear electricity production, water will become a big issue.

That's largely because some local heavyweights hit the panic button during the mercilessly hot, dry summer featuring water restrictions that remain in place. Those water worriers can calm down, and not just because it has been raining lately.

The bottom line is that the San Antonio Water System has been quietly amassing additional water supplies without the flashy multi-river basin plans that marked water plans of the past.

The drought justifiably raised awareness about the water issue, and Mayor Julián Castro said he intends to bring renewed focus to water later this year. “I've met a couple of times with (SAWS Board Chairman Alex Briseño and SAWS CEO Robert Puente) and asked them to review their water plan,” Castro said this week.

The mayor added he “asked about accelerating the process for adding acre-feet and speeding up investment. I want to achieve a significant addition in short order to our water portfolio as long as it's a reasonable cost.” Puente said the mayor's goal can be achieved and that SAWS leaders got the mayor's commitment “to assist if it meant rate increases.”

The bottom line is whether ratepayers want to pay the price for bringing massive amounts of expensive water into the city so every lawn can be golf-course green.

Maybe an acceleration of bringing SAWS projects online is merited. That's a political decision.

Still, SAWS can manage Edwards Aquifer pumping using an assortment of supplemental sources without rushing into the another complicated project with a maze of political and technical difficulties.

SAWS is piling up additional Edwards Aquifer water rights and working on various other projects that add to the city's reserve but don't grab attention.

Puente says economic development was not hurt by the drought, adding the city drew major businesses such as Whataburger, Medtronic and the Toyota expansion in the driest 23 months on record.

Puente secured a deal for an additional 8,300 acre-feet of Edwards water from Uvalde a couple of weeks ago. The utility is working on an agreement with Schertz and Seguin officials that could save $100 million in pipeline costs and accelerate the permitting process for 11,500 acre-feet of Carrizo Aquifer water from Gonzales.

SAWS' first brackish desalination plant is set to begin production in 2014 or 2015. It will produce 12,000 acre-feet and has the potential to grow.

The utility's storage project was not tapped this summer in a prudent move that will reap dividends if the drought continues. The storage project, originally designed to hold 28,000-acre feet, now has 53,000 acre-feet. SAWS is seeking another location to store Edwards water pumped in times of plenty.

The failure of the Lower Guadalupe River Basin and the Lower Colorado River Authority projects were splashy news and caused some to believe that SAWS is not moving forward and led to the questionable distraction of a SAWS lawsuit against the LCRA.

But when community leadersdo refocus on SAWS' supply plan their blood pressure likely will drop.

Of course, San Antonio must keep planning ahead, but the city is not in the position of weaknesses that some assume. The small-ball acquisitions and quiet relationship-repair that Puente and Briseño are orchestrating is a prudent and productive approach.

San Antonio should stick with this route instead of reverting to the window-dressing deals of the past.

By Bruce Davidson, Express News