Posted: Tue, 2 Sep 2025 03:10 PM - 7 Readers

By: Chad Swiatecki - Austin Monitor

At a recent Urban Land Institute Austin panel, experts discussed the growing strain on Austin's water infrastructure due to drought, declining inflows, and rapid population growth. Panelists, including Charles Stauch from the Lower Colorado River Authority, highlighted outdated water policies, noting that the Highland Lakes' minimum storage threshold, unchanged since 1991, is insufficient for the quadrupled population, and proposed a 750,000 acre-foot reserve to protect agricultural and environmental needs.

Pflugerville City Manager Sereniah Breland shared her city's $270 million investment in new water infrastructure, including a treatment plant and Colorado River intake, to address growth without overburdening ratepayers. Strategies like direct potable reuse and reclaimed water were emphasized as critical to stretching local supplies, with panelists agreeing that water availability is increasingly a limiting factor for new development, even if not always openly acknowledged.