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One Water in the Texas Hill Country

This guidebook, a joint project of the Hill Country Alliance and National Wildlife Federation, is intended to connect Hill Country communities facing growth and increased demands for water with water professionals experienced with One Water strategies, planning, implementation, design and construction. We interviewed engineers, architects, planners and landscape designers to gain insight into the realities of One Water projects, and within these pages feature the 14 selected professionals along with an example project each completed in Texas. Finding and connecting with consultants who can be trusted with a community’s most precious resource—its water—is a serious undertaking, and we hope this guidebook gives you a good place to start. Our organizations are committed to help...

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Rapidly Scaling Water Reuse Across Texas Using Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing

Water reuse projects are a proven solution to the state’s water availability challenges, but many more could be built if developers took greater advantage of a statewide financing program for water and energy conservation improvements known as PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy). A new report by the National Wildlife Federation and Texas Water Trade highlights the vast potential – as well as the challenges – of using PACE to finance the upfront capital costs of water reuse, including development of onsite infrastructure for capturing and reusing non-potable water such as rainwater and air conditioner condensate as well as connecting and reusing a utilities’ recycled wastewater (known as purple pipe infrastructure). [eltd_button size="" type="solid" text="Download the...

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Recommendations to Address Texas’ Water Infrastructure Following Winter Storm Uri

The polar vortex that descended on Texas from February 13 to 17, 2021 exposed not only the state’s ill-prepared electric grid, but also our aging, inadequate water infrastructure. As the Texas Legislature, state agencies, and local communities examine and address the failures that led to widespread suffering, loss of life, and economic harm during this winter storm and its aftermath, we urge decision-makers to consider how we might approach our water infrastructure differently as well. We offer the following high-level policy recommendations to help ensure that all Texans have reliable access to safe drinking water, that their wastewater is properly treated, that the systems providing these essential services can quickly recover from shocks and stresses,...

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2021 Legislative Priorities: Texas Coast and Water Program, National Wildlife Federation

The Texas Coast and Water Program at the National Wildlife Federation (a founding member of the Texas Living Waters Project) presents here its policy priorities for the 2021 Texas Legislative Session. The program calls on elected officials to promote water supply innovation, enable sustainable management of groundwater, invest in state parks, advance natural solutions to flooding, and protect river flows. We also emphasize the pressing need to address social disparities, such as access to broadband internet, in order to improve public participation in ongoing planning processes related to disaster mitigation and natural resources. [eltd_button size="" type="solid" text=" Download NWF's 2021 Legislative Priorities (PDF)" custom_class="" icon_pack="font_awesome" fa_icon="" link="https://texaslivingwaters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/NWF-Legislative-Priorities.pdf" target="_self" color="#ffffff" hover_color="#ffffff" background_color="#296374" hover_background_color="#3A8DA6" border_color="#296374" hover_border_color=""...

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Texas Living Waters 2020 Annual Report

We are pleased to share with you the Texas Living Waters Project 2020 Annual Report. 2020 was a transformative year in every sense. Our team nearly doubled in size as we doubled-down on our commitment to climate resilience, urban water management, and water for wildlife. We invite you to take a dive into Becoming Resilient to see where we've been this year and where we plan to go. Download the 2020 Texas Living Waters Annual Report (PDF) ...

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