In 2021, Texas gained an astounding new 300,000 Texans. Demographers expect our state to grow by more than four million people each decade through 2070, reaching a population of more than 50 million. Not only are people coming to the Lone Star State, but large corporations are now calling Texas home as well.
This massive growth brings a multitude of challenges with it, including a looming water crisis. The growth in water demand, coupled with a decrease in water supplies, could have detrimental consequences for Texas. If no action is taken, 26 percent of Texans will have less than half the water they need by 2070 during a repeat of the drought of record. Even this may be an underestimate—as recent droughts have shown, we can easily have droughts worse than the drought of record.
Read more from Dr. Robert Mace in this Austin American-Statesman op-ed here.