Crater Lake, pictured above, is the United States’ deepest lake.
It sits atop the Cascade Mountain Range and holds almost 4.6 trillion gallons of water – nearly the amount of water (4.8 trillion gallons) used in Texas in 2020.
Recycled wastewater accounted for nearly 4 percent of Texas’ total water supply that year, enough to fill Lake Meredith to its current level more than twice.
These comparisons are made using data from the Texas Water Development Board’s 2022 State Water Plan, which predicted water reuse will provide 15 percent of the state’s supply by 2070. The lake data came from Wikipedia’s list of largest lakes in the United States and TWDB. Both sources figured the water masses in the traditional units, acre-feet. One acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons. It’s enough water to cover an acre of land 12 inches deep.
Texas primarily relies on river basins and underground aquifers for its water. But reuse and other strategies will need to be employed to keep the water supply sustainable with the state’s growing population, increasing water demand and drought conditions. This year, Governor Greg Abbott put the current state legislature to work on solutions for funding and fixing what he declared a Texas water emergency.
Amarillo is among cities projecting the upcoming need for a direct potable (drinkable) water reuse plant as, most recently in a draft of the 2026 Region A Water Plan. Region A consists of 21 counties in the Texas Panhandle: Armstrong, Carson, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, and Wheeler counties. Sixteen water regional planning groups have submitted drafts that, ultimately, will be incorporated into the TWDB’s 2026 State Water Plan.
This is, in part, because the Ogallala Aquifer, the primary source of water on the High Plains, is declining and likely will not support irrigated agriculture here by 2070, according to some experts.
El Paso Water recently began construction of an advanced water purification facility that will transform recycled water into high-quality drinking water, providing as much as 10 million gallons per day. Completion of the $295-million facility is expected by 2028.
There are two major categories of water reuse: direct and indirect. Both categories can be used for potable (drinkable) purposes, according to Erika Mancha, director of conservation and innovative water technologies at TWDB.
Direct potable reuse treats municipal wastewater to drinking water standards and introduces the treated water either directly into a public water system or into a raw water supply immediately before the water enters a conventional water treatment plant.
Indirect potable reuse treats reclaimed municipal wastewater to drinking water standards to augment drinking water supplies by discharging it to a water body, such as an aquifer or reservoir and then retrieving the water for subsequent treatment and consumption.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ensures drinking water for public water systems is safe by reviewing and approving direct potable reuse projects before construction
In 2013, Texas became home to the first direct potable water reuse facility in the state and nation: The Colorado River Municipal Water District’s Raw Water Production Facility at Big Spring.
Learn more about efforts to make life here livable long into the future. Follow “Sustain the Plains, a Panhandle PBS YouTube series.
