117-1 Whiskey’s for Drinking and Water’s for Fighting: How San Antonio Stays Ahead of the Battle Coming to Texas

Session: GSA Noontime Lecture: Ron Nirenberg

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Texas is the fastest growing state in the nation, rapidly urbanizing and young. Within two decades, it will also be the most populous with a projected 42 million people, a 35 percent increase from a mix of births and migration from other states and countries. Demand for water will also rise dramatically. At the same time, across the globe, potable water supplies are decreasing sharply, while extreme weather events and climate change challenge even the wealthiest and most technologically advanced societies. Clearly, our most vital resource - water - is under threat no matter where one turns on our planet.

There is an old saying here in the Lone Star State that "Whiskey's for drinking and water's for fighting." There is perhaps no greater political challenge (nor lack of political fortitude) than solving our water issues for the common good, especially in a place where the "rule of capture" (a private landowner also owns the water underneath that land) is the prevailing law and we lack a statewide supply management strategy that ensures an adequate, quality water supply for its people. That's why the San Antonio community, the seventh most populous and one of the fastest growing cities in the country, has become a model by taking matters into its own hands over the last 30 years, diversifying its supply and investing in technology and policy solutions to protect its local underground aquifers. In this session, former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, recognized locally and nationally for his work on water and environmental policy, discusses the "San Antonio way" for ensuring long term water security.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-11393

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