Our Desired Future is a multimedia project to educate Texans on the interdependence of our groundwater, springs and rivers. Our goal is to inspire Texans to bring about the changes needed to keep waters flowing for future generations.
Take a moment to imagine the Texas you’d like to live in twenty years from now. In this vision, are the rivers stagnant? Boat docks abandoned? Swimming holes dried up?
If you said no, you’re probably not alone. And yet that is exactly the future we as a state say we aspire to, through a democratic process that few Texans know or understand.
In legalese, this is called "Desired Future Conditions," and it spells out how much groundwater we can pump from our aquifers between now and 2060. The only problem is, the Desired Future Conditions we’re adopting in most places allow us to pump so much groundwater, there won’t be any left for springs. And since most of the rivers--from the Rio Grande in the west to the Guadalupe in the east--get most of their baseflow from springs fed by groundwater, this also means there won’t be much left in our rivers.
We think the future Texans actually desire looks a lot different than the one we’re creating with every new well we drill. And our goal is to help Texans see how they need to reform their water policies to build the future they really want.
Our Desired Future is inspired by:
1. A belief that Texas can grow prosperously while preserving the flowing rivers and streams that make this state a treasure
2. A recognition that protecting these resources will take transformative changes in the way we manage and govern water
3. A vision of Texans coming together to define a new paradigm for water management
Over the coming months, we’ll be traveling the state, visiting five key regions that, taken together, tell a statewide story of the shortcomings of our current water laws and the need for transformation:
The Hill Country: The land of 1100 springs and one of America’s fastest-growing regions
Canadian River: A Panhandle oasis fighting for life at the end of irrigated agriculture
Gulf Coast: The economic powerhouse of Texas, whose refineries run on someone else's groundwater
Rio Grande: Where water is the next big cash crop
Permian Basin: Oil booms and water busts
Our Desired Future is a project of the Texas Center for Policy Studies and is made possible by the Shields-Ayres Foundation as well as from contributors to our IndieGoGo campaign. Hide full description
Our Desired Future is a multimedia project to educate Texans on the interdependence of our groundwater, springs and rivers. Our goal is to inspire Texans to bring about the changes needed to keep waters flowing for future generations.
Take a moment to imagine the Texas you’d like to live in twenty years from now. In this vision, are the rivers stagnant? Boat docks abandoned? Swimming holes dried up?
If you said no, you’re probably not alone. And yet that is exactly the future we as a state say we aspire to, through a democratic process that few Texans know or understand.
In legalese, this is called "Desired Future Conditions," and it spells out how much groundwater we can pump from our aquifers between now and 2060. The only problem is, the Desired Future Conditions we’re adopting in... Show full description
