July 25, 2016 4:49 PM

O'Donnell: Texas water woes contain one problem that is growing with no easy, cheap solution

QR’s resident curmudgeon says kicking the can down the road on leaking infrastructure “will create a fiscal, and possibly public health disaster in decades to come.”

Our lakes are brimming. Flooding has abated. Rivers are flowing nicely. The next drought seems way off in the distance. State agencies are working at developing new water resources over the coming years to serve Texans. So why am I writing about water now?

The next drought may already be underway and there is a statewide problem that is largely unseen. It is costing taxpayers and utility ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually. It can’t be fixed with new water resources. AND the cost to fix this problem will be big and long – which is probably why water system officials are reluctant to talk about it.

Billions of gallons of potable water are lost each year from thousands of miles of leaking water mains and pipes in municipal water systems all over Texas. Any system that has been in service for 50 years or more is dealing with this problem. Aged water mains and pipes constructed with limited life materials fail. Shifting soils cause pipe breaks as the ground swells and contracts with heat and cold, flood and drought.

This not a theory.

The complete column by resident curmudgeon Edd O’Donnell is in the R&D Department.

By Edd O'Donnell