While North Texas is experiencing severe to extreme drought conditions, the Tarrant Regional Water District says conservation efforts make it easier to provide adequate water to the growing population it serves.
How much TRWD saves is not a drop in the bucket.
In 2021, TRWD’s municipal water conservation savings totaled 20.7 billion gallons of water despite the fact that the population it serves in its 70 North Central Texas cities grew about 2.4 percent to 2.3 million people.
The nearly 21 billion gallons of water saved is the equivalent of 35 percent of the capacity of Eagle Mountain Lake, one of the district’s four reservoirs. It would be 17 percent of the water that can be stored in Lake Bridgeport.
“We’re very proud of this,” said Nicole Rutigliano, TRWD’s water supply manager. “Water is one of our most precious resources and to supply it to this growing population without interruption is a big accomplishment.”
Rutigliano credits TRWD’s conservation efforts for part of its success.
A recent report shows that conservation savings cut the total amount of water delivered from an estimated 139 billion gallons to 118 billion gallons. Lower indoor and outdoor water usage savings represents about 15 and 6 percent, respectively, of total water used.
TRWD and its 70 customer cities have aggressively encouraged homeowners to use more efficient plumbing fixtures and to restrict watering to the early morning hours and no more than twice a week, Rutigliano said.
This also wasn’t a one-time large savings. The gap between expected municipal deliveries and the amount actually pumped has been growing since 2007. In 2020, TRWD estimated the savings at 19.5 billion gallons.
“We expected demand to increase more than it has and it hasn’t because of these conservation efforts,” she said.
Conserving water not only helps guarantee there is enough to go around, it also allows TRWD to be more fluid about when it builds such things as reservoirs to boost its overall capacity.
“It’s allowed us to push some proposed water supply projects further into the future, which saves money for both us and our customers,” Rutigliano said.
