
ISTPP Director Kent Portney published a paper with Bush School alumnus Lindsey Aldaco-Manner and ISTPP Fellow Rabi Mohtar, titled “Analysis of Four Governance Factors on Efforts of Water Governing Agencies to Increase Water Reuse in the San Antonio Region” in Science of the Total Environment.
Growing urban areas, particularly those in drier climates, face conflicting demands for scarce water resources. In such areas, some water planning agencies are looking to water reuse as a way to increase supply. Their efforts are often complicated by the multitude of local, regional, and state organizations that govern the availability, uses, and quality of the water resources. To identify key ways that governance contributes to an increase in water reuse, the authors studied the efforts of water agencies and organizations in two San Antonio Regions to meet water reuse goals established by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). Factors of particular interest involved the relationship between agency and organization efforts to increase water reuse and their familiarity with TWDB water supply strategies, and their frequency of communication with TWDB. The researchers also looked at the relationship between the type of water agency or organization and their level of efforts to increase water reuse.
Using data from a survey of water governing agencies and organizations in the two regions of San Antonio, the authors find that about 58% of do not communicate with state water planners. Yet, those agencies that communicate more often with TWDB report more efforts to increase water reuse. This result is statistically significant and points to a strong need to find ways to increase communication. Taken together, all four factors listed above account for almost 30% of agency water reuse efforts.
Aldaco-Manner, Lindsey , Rabi Mohtar, and Kent E. Portney. 2019. “Analysis of Four Governance Factors on Efforts of Water Governing Agencies to Increase Water Reuse in The San Antonio Region.” Science of the Total Environment 647: 1498–1507. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitoenv.2018.07.366