Yes! So much valuable water is wasted on lawns which most people don't see because they're either inside or at work. Any region where a sprinkler system is needed, then don't have a grass lawn.
@@Breddaship I'm from Brownsville, TX and there's a car wash almost every mile. It's gotten so bad that our community makes memes about it and even the mayor weighed in saying new carwashes need to recycle more than half of their water. They don't. This model is very profitable because you lock people into subscriptions and all it is, is water, soap, and air.
@Nehpets94 so businesses that recycle water are a problem? Would love to hear your opinion on fracking. Car washes aren't the problem. Not as big as golf courses and HOAs across state requiring us to have grass in desert-like conditions across most of it
Get rid of all the huge car washes. We have 2 on every block here in the RGV. Stop HOAs from making people water their lawns to the point that they are pristine. Just get rid of HOA in general. Encourage people not to water their lawns and if they still want to encourage them to do it at night or early morning. Encourage good water saving manners in the house, when we were in the Middle East the only water we had was in storage tanks and we rationed it quite well.
Brother, it ain’t individual citizens that are the problem. Exxon and those guys try and pull a bait and switch to convince us it’s our fault but it ain’t.
I have tried to explain to Texas officials for THIRTY YEARS that Texas was going to run out of water but was laughed at by blind State legislators, county officials, the Water Board, etc) There are ways to capture the little rainwater that hits west Texas and get into the aquifers that totally supply the central Texas agriculture. The Texas Water Board has been a joke for decades and was a place to put campaign contributors as a reward. Maybe this guy is different but there's a huge amount of inertia in the board. Most of the efforts will take 20 to 25 years so since they didn't start years ago it's going to get to crisis stage before efforts start working. I just gave up about 5 years ago, so let someone else take up the effort.
I agree! I voiced concern about subdivisions and water usage, and I was told we had more than enough water. It's just the rich getting richer and the rest of us suffer
@@JeremiahCommonsGoogle is properly pronounced with a soft G, as in George. Water usage for cooling massive data centers for Google and other "tech" companies. Owned and operated by psychopathic traitorous organized criminals. Who mostly self-proclaim to be "God's chosen people". Is the reason for this "water shortage".
@@JeremiahCommonsI google it and I’m not digging around all those results to try and figure out what about this relates to that. How about you type out the explanation and copy paste that instead?
That’s what America is founded on! If you think privatizing public resources for private gain is wrong then you will be horrified by US & Texas history.
One smart American! Maybe in the next 30 years you will come figure out all that flood water from hurricanes is FREE! Maybe then you will also catch rain in the Rockies and west Texas canyons! 🥴
@@Trenchwarsoldier-x5vnot sure what your point is. Floodwater is possibly the most contaminated “source” of water. There’s a cost associated with treating it. Just like there’s a cost associated with physically moving water from one place to another. But go ahead and defend texas politicians. They let their power grid fail and charge the layman for it, why not water?
What Sid and state reps won’t say is that developers are a huge problem too. They absolutely refuse to participate by using water catchment and xeriscaping. That should be a requirement especially in the Texas Hill Country!
@@youwantitigotit4621 Dude chill with the caps lock. You are also so off point its crazy. Google idaho water regulations. That is what is going on here.
Dallas gets 36 inches of rain per year. Tucson gets 11.3 inches of rain, 24 or so inches less. Brad Lancaster in Tucson has changed whole street scapes capturing street runoff to harvest water and plant ' rain gardens' along the streets. They provide shade, lowering street heat and house heat , less air-conditioning is needed, they provide fruit to eat for passers by and local kids. Prevents foloding of the sewage system during storms, too. Texas should just look into using Permaculture methods to manage rainwater. Very simple. Effective. Harvest the rainwater, sequester it and let it sink into the ground. It will recharge the aquifers, restore streams and create more little lakes that Dallas residents love so much. Engineering and ag in Texas is lagging behind
I see alot of complaints on the comments about golf courses and lawns. Some golf courses actually help conserve water. They create creeks and ponds thats collect runoff and slow it down from entering rivers and streams. The ponds and the grass also soak up the rain water to help recharge ground water. Same with my grass. I dont ever water. I just keep it healthy enough when there is rain for it to last the month of no rain.
Lived in Arizona for 12 years! HOAs made zeroscaping a friggin' nightmare; fining people for trees dropping seed pods, rock colors, and a myriad of other "nonsensical" infractions. They even built a canal to store water with NO COVER to protect from evaporation in the desert sun! (Wanna build solar panels? Put them over the canal then!!) I LOVED the two growing seasons (which TX has, but doesn't take advantage of - try buying plants after August, even ROOT crops for gardens!) And STOP cutting down TREES! Trees attract water (rain patterns - research where the flooding is going! It follows swathes of trees, both here AND in Europe!) I am AGHAST at the amount of beautiful trees clear-cut in their haste to build "cement gardens" and structures OVER (of all places) the aquifer lands here in San Antonio!! And farms are now being shut down by bio-sludge! Corporations need to be held accountable for their own friggin' wastes!!
I'm in a north Houston suburb in the forest with an HOA. We have grass front and back and I turned off the sprinkler system when we moved in. I see my neighbors left theirs with the builders settings and water just pours down the street. My grass is a little more brown than theirs but it's still alive- with no sprinklers! There's no sprinklers in the forest around us and it's all growing just fine. I really don't get it.
@@MissAmazings Houston gets a lot more rain than other parts of the state. In North Texas it typically doesn’t rain with at or near 100 temperatures for three months during the summer. This summer I mowed my yard about once a month. During the spring I usually mow once a week without watering. Luckily where I live we have a neighborhood association but not an HOA.
Ya, the 3 stooges who’ve been in charge for too long. Notice how they all bash CA for the same issue, but of course sid & the 3 stooges don’t do a F… thing about it. Of course blame everything on the big Cities, in true to form the failed leadership of this State
Republicans brag about growth and basically paying businesses to move here. Also republican taking native Texas land from individuals for water. If we don't have resources then stop bragging about growth. Miller is a crook.
@@WesleyAPEXyeah and they are all basically clueless. They do it because the prices are lower but they’ve been slowly going up and up and up and now it costs just about as much as everywhere else. There’s hidden fees too. People are naive. The government in Texas sucks too.
First time i've seen someone in Texas speak about something that truly matters. As a trucker from Houston, we definitely have a ton of wasted water that needs to be collected. I wish the rest of the republican leaders stop complaining about what they don't like about others, and do what matters beyond party issues.
Conservatives would have to do something they just can't - they'd have to realize the environment is important and yes, humans can eff it up. This couldn't happen to a more arrogant state. The State of Karma.
@@cstuartdc Also they'd have to realize you must tax people, especially (gasp!) rich people, and spend that money on infrastructure. In this case, the infrasturcture would be capturing and recycling rain/runoff water, channeling water minimally treated that isn't suitable drinking but is for irrigation, etc... But I think someone called conservation and gov't spending 'woke' so now I guess the argument is over ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@Joe-ij6of yup. I don't get it honestly. For a group that claims to like to hunt and fish they certainly have no interest in protecting their habitat. But then again, the only thing Conservatives hunt well is a stationary black silhouette of a bad guy in a warehouse.
Close down every car wash. He said it specially the rio grande valley. We have one in every corner. Some years ago my city send out mail stating we would get fine if we were caught washing our cars or watering our grass, yet they keep on opening car washer. Pass a bill, close them down!!!
Most of those carwashes recycle their water and use less to clean a car than you do in your driveway. Vast majority of water is used by industry and agriculture. Not residential grass and carwashes.
More than 50 years ago as an undergraduate I did a study on the Texas water situation. At that time it was predicted that the parts of Texas along and east of IH-35 would see growth and those west of there would see decline. All because of the availability of water. It’s old news. Why haven’t the state leaders taken it serious enough to actually do something?
This is exactly why my garden only has native plants and flowers that do not need much water, not only does it beautify my house but it’s more water efficient!!
Do u want an energy crisis to go on top of the water crisis? Btw their recycling methods with fracking have been very efficient so it’s not as much as you’d think
People need to get there County to do something. The Valley is blue. Get your people to do something. He talked about other places in Texas that are doing something. The only ones not doing anything is the blue areas. Which is Democrats. Get to your county and speak up to get things done. It starts there first.
@@FindfreedomInChrist-yb7nsfunny…. Infrastructure required at this sized has to be funded at a state level. Stop blaming democrats for everything, literally a majority of the state has had water problems. You took him saying one place that was finding solutions to the water crisis and got from that “only blue areas have water problems” like bro what r u talking about?
So glad to here our commisioner talk like this. I am a retiring Texan and rebuying a home for it. Have been seriously thinking about going somewhere else with more water, I could see this water issue years ago creeping upon us. Same with power grid but I think they have finally approved to double elctrical out put by 2030 which has to happen because that is amount we Need. Remember, Texas 1950s drought made Dallas run out of water. Water was then five dollars a gallon, thats $65.00 in now adays money. Dallas back then did have little Whiterock lake as main water source. That lake became complely dry, it was a lot deeper then also. Midwest has Great lakes, we don't have that. Because of that 1950s drought the Dallas Fathers Group got together and built all our sourronding present day lakes.
Golf courses, backyard swimming pools... remember that Lt Guv Dan wants all grandparents to DIE for their grandkids' future in the Texas Economy. Don't ruin lawns-!! How will these folks overprice and sell burned out bermuda lawns?!!
Some golf courses recycle their water. They have creeks and ponds that hold the water. They collect runoff water and keep it from going down stream as fast helping to reduce flooding and recharge ground water. Still not good in the deseret but when they are in areas that see rainfall they actually can help.
Never heard this man speak before. I like him. Refreshing to hear a politician use their time to speak common sense rather than just political rhetoric.
My father worked in the water industry in Texas for most of his life. I remember him talking about this when I was a little kid in the late 80s. People have known about this for decades. It needs to be addressed.
@@lushlife6864unfortunately he is definitely one of those super right wingers and unfortunately a Trumper🤢 BUT i give credit where credit is due n he is absolutely correct w what he is saying here. This may be the only common sense he possesses LOL
Actually he isn’t but now you see how idiots win elections in this state. Verbal diarrhea about everything except the ways that they cause the very problems they claim to solve.
Why should it be a "added expense" the federal government should cover it if the quit sending money to other countries and immigrants. This should be a easy problem to fix.
And yet they keep electing officials who are concerned about making money to line their pockets, which is why they have an electric problem as well. So they are running out of water and electric and have nobody but themselves to blame!
Texas is so much about big consumption and little to no effort in conservation. Just see how trash cans overflow with plastic bottles and you'd be hard pressed to find any recycle bins. Why environmentalism has taken on any negative connotation around here is beyond me. In terms of the water, overpopulation has lead to a progressive dwindling of all resources across the board. Hoards of people looking to save a few bucks have made conditions unbearable for both natives and newcomers alike. Any block that used to have trees have all been torn down to build hundreds of new living spaces. And that's every block across the city. Not only is over consumption a factor but it's no wonder we've been having bizarre weather patterns and excessive heat. This level of congestion without remedy can only lead to some forms of implosion.
Just to be clear, it is not just Texas. When it comes to plastics, recycling has been a complete failure. Only 5% to 6% of plastics actually get recycled in the United States. Oh sure, for years cities across America have collected our recycle bins but most plastic items collected are not actually recycled. And because the new plastic is relatively cheaper to produce - Corporate America decided to continue with the status quo, and to lie and deceive the public about recycling all because it wasn't economically feasible...
TCEQ Harris County has never ever answered any of my questions, they always send us to someone else somewhere else. We need that leadership in Galveston who control Harris county to be removed for harmful neglect.
City of Houston is terrible when it comes to water line breaks or leaks. On my route to work there was a leak in the sidewalk with a steady flow, took almost a month for them to repair. Lots of water went down the drain.🤦🏽♂️
Around two years ago, Texas signed a new regulation regarding water, conservation and the HOA. If you design your property for water conservation your local HOA no longer has the right to fine or criticize you. Remember that this only counts to water conservation and flood management… you can’t just plant whatever you want. They have to be natives or analog, drought resistant species. I converted my entire front yard to native habitat close to two years ago. my HOA sent me a letter stating I wasn’t allowed to plant what I was planting and that removing my lawn was against HOA guidelines. I proceeded to send them to the new Texas regulation and I have never heard back from them since. We no longer have the excuse of an HOA… they will resist, but the law is the law. Texans have to look out for Texas, this is our home and no one’s gonna do the right thing except for us.
Maybe if people stopped voting for people who are clearly lining corporate pockets, and making it more difficult for THE PEOPLE. Things would be better. Frankly, Texas is so corporate it's sad. What freedom to breathe in polluted air, and have contaminated water. Boil water affects are so great right!? We better spend all the money on the border vs fixing the issues in our own backyard. Right? Let's see what other people are doing in their backyard and get mad about that vs taking care of our yard.
My State CA is no better. It is so corporate here. The PG&E ( energy co. Monpoly ) owns my governor. Our governor is owned by a bunch of special interests. But he loves being corrupt. I rather have Greg Abbot run CA than the goons we have.
@@jjohnson796 You tried so hard to look smart lol. "Get elected and change the rules" Are you really that stupid and don't understand how all that works? Serious question
It sounds to me like the state of Texas has been mismanaging its water consumption for a long time. You don't grow melons, rice and sugarcane in a climate which is not high water yielding. These industries have been artificially producing on the basis of irrigation which cannot continue to be sustained over the long haul. If you want water solutions, you have to allow your water aquifers to replenish through natural means and switch to sustainable agricultural practices. You get plenty of rainfall in Texas. Rainwater capture is best used for regenerative agricultural practices. You should quickly encourage your farmers to switch their harvests to drought resistant varieties and crops. There are plenty. Citrus? Melons? Tomatoes?! These are water intensive! Learn the industry before promoting solutions!
Texas is big enough that there are regions both with abundant water and without. I don't live in Texas, so I have no real stake, but I will say that I noticed the commissioner being a lot more heavy handed in his condemnation of municipal water waste (which is important, for sure) than in addressing industrial and agricultural misuse, which are also very real. I'm not sure it's realistic to talk about water waste in Houston and the need for more water for agriculture in the west Texas in the same conversation, as there's likely no practical way to move agricultural scale water from one area to the other.
Which part of Texas? Are you calculating the mass growth of population from others who have moved there? East Texas which has an abundant of water? Or west Texas thats more of a desert which has a water issue. Not all parts of Texas has a water problem.
LOL….melons and tomato’s? No dear, I drive all over Texas for a living for the last 20 years. The only 2 crops I see grown here are corn and cotton, and some rice in coastal areas. Cotton seems to be somewhat drought tolerant as it’s grown in West Texas as well and the corn….they don’t water the corn here, if we have a mid summer drought, the corn turns as brown as sand. I don’t even think they grow corn here for food, they use most of it to make government mandated ethanol for gasoline additive, and of course cotton isn’t edible either. I don’t see much actual food being grown in Texas at scale.
I agree with a lot of your points, Abigail, but one of them puzzles me. How does rainwater capture allow the aquifers to replenish through natural means? If you're capturing rainwater that would have ended up in the aquifer anyway, what have you gained, other than hoarding it from your neighbors? I live in a limestone house in South Texas that was built when Abraham Lincoln was the President. The waste from the sinks, lavatories, and bathtub is used to irrigate the yard. I upgraded the rainwater collection system when I bought the place, by adding gutters and downspouts. My big project right now is trying to determine if I can lower my well pump 42' or if I'll have to drill a new well. So I think about these things every day.
In my small town in south Texas an Indian company called AVINA wants to buy ALL the water resources that would supply our communities with water for farming and to LIVE so they can build ammonia plants to ship the “green ammonia” to India. We would truly be NEGATIVE in water resources when we already dont have enough. It’s AWFUL
Arizona has an issue like that. The saudis grow alphalfa plants (I think its called) in Arizona and get the water for free. Then they ship it back to their country to feed their livestock. These plants drink up 10x the water as normal farm crop plants and Arizona's water is slowly declining from it, and the rain can't keep up.
@@michah321A person living in an apartment building will use much less water than someone living in a single-family house. How do I know? I live in a single-family house and will move to a condo after a couple of years because the water bill is the most expensive part of my utilities.
@@ianbrown2326 Who’s living in the homes these developers build? I assume it’s not ghosts. Would you rather have people living in the streets like in California?
In New York State, we have so much farmland. We get so much rain up here. It is strange that serious farmers haven’t moved up to the north east with all this moisture.
I'm a 37 year old left leaning ex-Texan. The partisan bs and turning a blind eye because it benefits me in the short-term attitude that is so prevalent in Texas. Has been for decades.
Individual Rain Water Harvesting is incredibly important. Educating homeowners how to collect and reuse rainwater is very important. Miller is right that cisterns were integral in times past. Both my Family farms had them and used them. Adding a 50g rain barrel is fashion. Utilizing it takes science. And it doesnt take much of thoughtful utilization to make a huge impact in a positive direction.
Yes! The commissioner points out a great opportunity on the individual homeowners or house renters. We can harvest rain water ourselves for gardening AND for even drinking water. Buy ourselves a gravity water filtration system. Even with dwindling water resources, I would like to remind individuals of the Flint water crisis.
We have more than enough water for the 8 billion people here on Earth. In fact we’d need to quadruple the size of our population to worry about if we’d have enough resources on Earth for everyone or if they would run out. We have overwhelmingly plenty of resources left in proportion to support our current human global population. It’s the fact we’re inefficiently wasting recourses which is the problem. I think it’s deliberate. In fact, it’s under population that’s the problem we are currently facing as a species right now on the Globe, not overpopulation…I’m 20, and according to future predictions, on the average, when I’m 60 this planet is going to be a lot more emptier than it is compared to now.
@@Wadiyatalkinabeet_The more people there are, the more resources have to be spent on each of us, because everyone wants to eat, drink water, have a house etc, but considering that resources are not infinite, it means that each of us will become more poor, according to "Cube's Law" and "Rocket Equation".
This isn't the reason at all. That story is stupid. Humans do all the work. Water is being used for fracking in our state. We don't need to use this much water for big Ag and big ranching. We can actually live in a more natural manner, have more urban gardens, and the water would be plenty for us without exporting and importing so much. Like he said, catching water as it falls provides enough water for a family even on 9 inches of rain a year.
Yup. Too arid of a climate to keep building all these extra homes with green grass lawns. Should be Xeriscaping with local plants for new neighborhoods instead of water hungry non native plants. So many people moved here in the past 4 years!
Every single mega corporation and farmers with millions of cattle that move here cuts down hectares of old growth trees and wonder why we have a shortage of water. Trees help maintain the water cycle, but I guess all of our congress members forgot that elementary lesson.
Citizens get what they vote for and the citizens do not have the will to vote for leaders who will take on this issue. Developers always say the same thing --there is plenty of water. Get involved.
Do you think it’s a republicans issue or just not picking the right guy? I think it’s a local government issues both Democrat and republican because they keep giving out land grants to developers
@@ianbrown2326 Texas floods all the time and historically farmers have always harvested their own rainwater. Only thing government can do is make things worse.
@@ianbrown2326 Its not about one guy, its about decades of republicans having unchecked power and using it to milk the Cow dry before they retire. You can try and say its both all you want, but the truth is Democrats couldn't even cause damage if they wanted to right now. There are people who can legally drink who have never living in a Texas where democrats had any power. Think about that. Think about the damage a group can do in small increments over a long time peroid
maybe cities are part of the problem? Cities are essentially arid wastelands with how much non permeable land they create. Cities should be forced to have the ability to capture rain water on each building. The amount of people moving to Texas is unsustainable and cities are where most of them move to.
Agree West Texas should not be importing water to create green land, thats a major issue. Allot of places out west use rocks and other local crops meant for the desert for their front yard. Those in west Texas should be doing the same.
When people and corporations keep saying that no one is going to tell them how use their water, there is a problem of ignorance and arrogance. Oil companies have polluted the water in Colorado for decades, and $$$ keeps winning.
Put some rebates and grants in for rain capturement, people will get on board, currently TX only offers 0% sales tax on rain capturement tech, it's a good start
There is no hotter weather. Just propaganda. A very small amount of research would reveal that the hottest weather in the United States was in the 1930s and it has still not ever gotten hotter than those years.
@@AshtonCoolmanarent most of the wildfires caused by people though. Also wildfires aren’t unavoidable. Lightning hits all the time. This isn’t anything new. I think the main problem is that we are starting to care less and less about our environment
@@alejandroc7357sure wildfires aren’t avoidable, but as a person involved in wild land firefighting. It’s getting worse and most fires aren’t started by people. Most fires will smolder through winter and reignite in the spring and summer. We rely on the snow pack to keep the fires at bay, this past summer and winter were extremely dry. We’ve never seen anything like this before.
@@Waynebruce234 i understand that when its dry its a bigger hazard but what is causing them? Even when California had that nasty wildfire a few years back. They were saying someone caused it. Also how can you really tell its point of origin and cause once its spread so much?
Their government sits down and doesn't do anything for their grid and water. Big corporations want to import where they make more money. Congress needs to fix their problems.
They've completely brainwashed their voters into thinking it all the liberals fault, despite Republicans holding all 3 branches of Government for over 20 years.
You can't go to the voter and sell conservation. No elected official holds office for long who says we have to use less. The guys not wrong but people are ignorant of how and where things come from. They just want you to get it for them.
Actually, the right of capture (you can pump all you want underneath your own property except for certain groundwater districts) has been part of the Texas Administrative Code long before Abbott came along. He should still be voted out of office for a host of other reasons though.
The idiocy of this is astounding. Sugar cane is one of the thirstiest crops to grow. Oranges also a thirsty crop. Does anyone else see what is wrong here?
Yes. This guy is somehow blaming everyone but farmers. Pretty sure farmers use several times the amount of most other groups. Maybe industry is a problem.
How about putting our air conditioning condensate to work for us? I diverted my A/C condensate and have been using it to water my garden plants. No chlorine, no fluoride. Have to assume that is better for the soil than municipal water.
All it takes is 5 gallon buckets, or 55 gallon barrels if your air conditioner sits higher. My mother did this when she was alive. When neighbors couldn't water their garden due to drought causing water rationing, her garden was nice and productive. It could also be used for watering animals.
all of my big city neighbors maintain plush lawns that look absolutely beautiful but just pouring all of the water into dirt , Texas will never address this crisis
Austin saw 30% increases in summer electricity bills for neighborhoods who removed their grasses. The plants release excess moisture into the air therefore lowering the air temperature around the home.
Man this guy is on point and ive never heard of him before. He is genuinely concerned about the people that put him in office and hes not pointing the finger. We need more people like him in office like he said we are Texans and we need to start handling business.
irrigation is unsustainable, as we're seeing. land has a natural carrying capacity that should be respected. There are multiple failed civilizations in the sands of the American Southwest that tried (and temporarily succeeded with) mass irrigation.
The right hasnt been against environmental conservation ever, its been against the ludicrous idea of carbon taxes and global warming. The rights main focus on enviroment is clean air and clean water.
@jonathanchristman335 bro the epa does all of that, also we can tell how smart you are by calling global warming ludicrous. If you've lived in Texas for long enough at least near Houston you've noticed most of the impacts. More Hurricanes during Hurricane season and stronger ones, and it used to get cold during October and November now it's January unless it rains a lot in December then maybe a week in December is cold
@@IvanSal778 the EPA used to do that, now its just about pushing solar and carbon taxes because the organization has been captured by Big Energy. The Earth goes through geothermic cycles to maintain homeostasis, we are still warming up from the last ice age. Man made global warming is a facade
@@jonathanchristman335 carbon taxes are the closest thing to a "free market" way of telling private businesses to NOT ignore their carbon output. there are things called "externalized costs" and in the past, one thing companies used to do was "externalize" the cost of cleaning up trash by dumping it in rivers. Regulation stopped that. Carbon taxes are a reasonable solution to doing the exact same thing for emissions. Same as gas taxes make all the 20 ton trucks that tear up the roads pay for repairs.
Texas is the most ecologically diverse state in the nation. We are next to Louisiana, you thinks its call desert until it hits that state line and instantly turns into bayou? We've got plenty of water the problem is we live in an intellectual desert, so to speak.
@@johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555 I get it, it's a joke, but Texas is like 8% desert. Jokes aside I don't want anyone to misunderstand how badly they mismanaged the water situation is. American colonists settled where precise because of how good East Texas was for agriculture.
Texas has 53 desalination plant's in opperation so they have been doing that. I was going to say the same thing but I figured it would be smarter to look up to see if they have them first before stating my opinion and looking foolish.
@rossr6616 we built gas fired desalination plants in Ingleside Texas for Saudi Arabia...you don't know how it works do you 😂 . It just boiling water to steam. Removing the salt by evaporation.
Stop leaking pipes, sewage recycling, rainwater harvesting, seawater toilet flushing in coastal cities (lower embodied energy with fewer chemicals to treat the water).
Meanwhile foreign countries come to Texas buy land, and use our water to grow crops and ships the crops back to the sponsoring country…. Using all our resources!
Some, but it's mostly the good ol boys don't want to face reality that their way of using water is wasteful. Texans move here to live and are destroying our water supplies, not by ignorance but stupidity.
No country or private corporations should be allowed to buy land in the USA or any other country, the land belongs to the people of the country not corporations or foreign governments.
Yeah well anything on the left pretty much ignores everything beneficial to the entire country. Nothing from the left has benefited the United States in the last 25 years. Nothing.
Houston, San Antonio - Austin corridor, DFW. Overbuilt in the last ten years. Building suburbs and ex-burbs where they don't need to be because everyone needs a mini-mansion and developers don't plan smart on landscaping. Instead HOA's and the like all want green grass and sprinklers instead of smart landscaping for arid land.
Less than 8% of water used in the US every day is for residential. Industry and ag takes the water. Billy turning his lawn in to zero-scape isn't going to make much of a dent.
This problem is all over the country. People who have money want to eat their cake too. Look at all the rich people in Californa and their mansions. Look at their Lawns it puts allot of other states to shame. This is an eppidemic around the whole country, people with money feel entitled and they think they deserve to get whatever they want because of it not caring about the trail of destruction they leave behind. This isn't Just a state problem. Most states in the country are having water issues.
This is a great interview! Thank you to Sid Miller for being a responsible commissioner and fulfilling his duty to farmers and Texans! Hoping California leaders follow suit in such times of water insecurity.
It's a matter of soil impermeability. Loss of plant life, soil carbon and fertility, as well as the growing amount of impervious surfaces is where this is original using from. Harvesting rainwater by several means, as well as reusing greywater will change the water loss trajectory. Harvesting rainwater in rural areas reduces the amount of labor to manage irrigation, and related costs, reduces drought, erosion, heat wave effect builds farmer and rancher resilience. Rainwater harvesting in urban areas via bioswales and raingardens is worth it. It reduces infrastructure costs, pollution, ground subsidence, concrete/paving, damage (must choose city-appropriate trees though, with polite roots, growth), reduces water bills, reduces the heat island effect, flooding, etc.
Sid sees the writing on the wall. People are starting to see past Abbotts corrupt little club. 2020 was the highly voter turnout for dems since the 70s. That was before Covid, where Abbotts own refusal to protect people from a pandemic has cause the death of many elderly people who would normally vote for the GOP. I'm not saying the Republicans will lose Texas, I'm saying the Abbott Mafia that has corrupted the state GOP will lose. And when it does, Sid can point to this interview.
Quit building housing tracts ! Do a 10 year building moratorium on new construction . Don’t force large family farms with imminent domain to take to build resoviors
While the commissioner does a good job of talking about water use and waste, and at least has some ideas about water conservation, he tap dances around the real issue, there are too many people and not enough water. It is not complicated.
What about data centers ? Data centers can use a lot of water per day, ranging from 300,000 to 5 million gallons, depending on the size of the facility. How many data centers are in Texas ?
If he wanted to do something about it he could’ve taken my advice and allowed for the expansion of Castor growth in the state. Instead he disqualified my young farmer grant for the growth of Castor because it’s “too risky”. When central and west TX are a desert maybe he’ll reconsider the risks.
Me and my best friend have been talking about this and from what I heard it’s way worse then what Mr Miller was telling us. He needs to scare the state to get us to do what we need to do. Maybe say let’s not be like California and Arizona and be proactive about this stuff. We need to get on this now and not keep kicking the can.
Stop HOAs from requiring every single house in a neighborhood to have green lawns. We waste a ridiculous amount of water on stupid lawn watering.
There should be rockbeds and cactuses. Not gardens and lawns.
Yes! So much valuable water is wasted on lawns which most people don't see because they're either inside or at work. Any region where a sprinkler system is needed, then don't have a grass lawn.
Yes, as well as ending mowing mandates for those who want to allow native species to grow in their place!
Texas already has a law that HOAs cannot deny changes to a homeowners yard if it's a water saving alternative. Texas Property Code (Section 202.007)
@@GordonFreeman307no we need gardens. We don’t need lawns
Running out of water and the city giving permission to open carwash in every corner of the city😂
Actually some carwash places, recycle the water. I am not sure how they filter the water to be reused, I seen it on the news a few years ago.
Spurious claim
@@Breddaship I'm from Brownsville, TX and there's a car wash almost every mile. It's gotten so bad that our community makes memes about it and even the mayor weighed in saying new carwashes need to recycle more than half of their water. They don't. This model is very profitable because you lock people into subscriptions and all it is, is water, soap, and air.
@Nehpets94 so businesses that recycle water are a problem? Would love to hear your opinion on fracking. Car washes aren't the problem. Not as big as golf courses and HOAs across state requiring us to have grass in desert-like conditions across most of it
@Nehpets94 I'm from Mcallen we are neighbors
Get rid of all the huge car washes. We have 2 on every block here in the RGV. Stop HOAs from making people water their lawns to the point that they are pristine. Just get rid of HOA in general. Encourage people not to water their lawns and if they still want to encourage them to do it at night or early morning. Encourage good water saving manners in the house, when we were in the Middle East the only water we had was in storage tanks and we rationed it quite well.
Fracking
Car Wash businesses recycle the water and are better about water waste than you washing your car at home
Brother, it ain’t individual citizens that are the problem. Exxon and those guys try and pull a bait and switch to convince us it’s our fault but it ain’t.
@@ryuhabdle9
It’s our fault. People keep voting for bad politicians who are paid by oil companies.
A lot of HOAs require very water-intensive landscaping. It is so wasteful! More natural -looking native landscaping should be a priority in Texas.
Agreed 💯
Yes!! Dallas, I'm looking at you!
It's all about money and greed in the fascist gop
I suggest Zero Growth for Data/Mass Surveillance Centers in Texas and all other US ranch and farm lands.
Ban HOA's
I have tried to explain to Texas officials for THIRTY YEARS that Texas was going to run out of water but was laughed at by blind State legislators, county officials, the Water Board, etc) There are ways to capture the little rainwater that hits west Texas and get into the aquifers that totally supply the central Texas agriculture. The Texas Water Board has been a joke for decades and was a place to put campaign contributors as a reward. Maybe this guy is different but there's a huge amount of inertia in the board.
Most of the efforts will take 20 to 25 years so since they didn't start years ago it's going to get to crisis stage before efforts start working.
I just gave up about 5 years ago, so let someone else take up the effort.
Google idaho water regulations. That is what is going on here and the outcome that will happen.
I agree! I voiced concern about subdivisions and water usage, and I was told we had more than enough water. It's just the rich getting richer and the rest of us suffer
@@JeremiahCommonsGoogle is properly pronounced with a soft G, as in George.
Water usage for cooling massive data centers for Google and other "tech" companies.
Owned and operated by psychopathic traitorous organized criminals.
Who mostly self-proclaim to be "God's chosen people".
Is the reason for this "water shortage".
@@JeremiahCommonsI google it and I’m not digging around all those results to try and figure out what about this relates to that. How about you type out the explanation and copy paste that instead?
Yeah this.@@JeremiahCommons
Another thing that's causing this problem is corporations privatizing water...
Tell that to the ghoul conservatives who run the state
That’s what America is founded on! If you think privatizing public resources for private gain is wrong then you will be horrified by US & Texas history.
One smart American! Maybe in the next 30 years you will come figure out all that flood water from hurricanes is FREE! Maybe then you will also catch rain in the Rockies and west Texas canyons! 🥴
@@Trenchwarsoldier-x5vnot sure what your point is.
Floodwater is possibly the most contaminated “source” of water. There’s a cost associated with treating it. Just like there’s a cost associated with physically moving water from one place to another.
But go ahead and defend texas politicians. They let their power grid fail and charge the layman for it, why not water?
What Sid and state reps won’t say is that developers are a huge problem too. They absolutely refuse to participate by using water catchment and xeriscaping. That should be a requirement especially in the Texas Hill Country!
*THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH "LAND DEVELOPERS" CAN DO WHEN THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE MOVING TO TEXAS LIKE IT IS SOME SORT OF HYPE TRAIN*
@@youwantitigotit4621 Unless you're a Native, you have no right to living in Texas relative to anyone else. Same as any other state.
@@youwantitigotit4621 Dude chill with the caps lock. You are also so off point its crazy. Google idaho water regulations. That is what is going on here.
@@JeremiahCommonstoo many people
The ignroant maga gop wants water shortages so the water lobbyists get more moeny and then they can blame everything on the left lmfao
Dallas gets 36 inches of rain per year. Tucson gets 11.3 inches of rain, 24 or so inches less. Brad Lancaster in Tucson has changed whole street scapes capturing street runoff to harvest water and plant ' rain gardens' along the streets. They provide shade, lowering street heat and house heat , less air-conditioning is needed, they provide fruit to eat for passers by and local kids. Prevents foloding of the sewage system during storms, too. Texas should just look into using Permaculture methods to manage rainwater. Very simple. Effective. Harvest the rainwater, sequester it and let it sink into the ground. It will recharge the aquifers, restore streams and create more little lakes that Dallas residents love so much. Engineering and ag in Texas is lagging behind
I see alot of complaints on the comments about golf courses and lawns. Some golf courses actually help conserve water. They create creeks and ponds thats collect runoff and slow it down from entering rivers and streams. The ponds and the grass also soak up the rain water to help recharge ground water.
Same with my grass. I dont ever water. I just keep it healthy enough when there is rain for it to last the month of no rain.
Arizona is draining the aquifer growing hay for Arabs. You got your own problems and don't know it.
Google idaho water regulations. That is what is going on here and the outcome that will happen.
And yet, no one is asking why those idiots are trying to farm in the Sonoran Desert?
Lived in Arizona for 12 years!
HOAs made zeroscaping a friggin' nightmare; fining people for trees dropping seed pods, rock colors, and a myriad of other "nonsensical" infractions. They even built a canal to store water with NO COVER to protect from evaporation in the desert sun! (Wanna build solar panels? Put them over the canal then!!)
I LOVED the two growing seasons (which TX has, but doesn't take advantage of - try buying plants after August, even ROOT crops for gardens!)
And STOP cutting down TREES! Trees attract water (rain patterns - research where the flooding is going! It follows swathes of trees, both here AND in Europe!) I am AGHAST at the amount of beautiful trees clear-cut in their haste to build "cement gardens" and structures OVER (of all places) the aquifer lands here in San Antonio!!
And farms are now being shut down by bio-sludge! Corporations need to be held accountable for their own friggin' wastes!!
Great guest. Thanks for having him on. Need to talk about this more please.
NO WE DONT NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT. Sorry, but HOA’s need to STOP being so STUPID!
I blame HOAs for forcing people to water their lawns every day and the governor for incentivizing all of these businesses to move to Texas.
I'm in a north Houston suburb in the forest with an HOA. We have grass front and back and I turned off the sprinkler system when we moved in. I see my neighbors left theirs with the builders settings and water just pours down the street. My grass is a little more brown than theirs but it's still alive- with no sprinklers! There's no sprinklers in the forest around us and it's all growing just fine. I really don't get it.
Does your HOA have such a requirement? My HOA doesn't. Not all HOAs are bad.
@@seansaca KARMA
@@MissAmazings Houston gets a lot more rain than other parts of the state. In North Texas it typically doesn’t rain with at or near 100 temperatures for three months during the summer. This summer I mowed my yard about once a month. During the spring I usually mow once a week without watering. Luckily where I live we have a neighborhood association but not an HOA.
What's next, gov abbutt giving incentives to Nestle ??
TEXAS is losing more than resources ….. it’s losing its common sense and it’s disturbing
Amen
@@biffteutsch3402 Oh, so you’ve been to San Antonio.
@@biffteutsch3402 It’s losing it common sense, you can say that again, just look at the clowns and crooks Texas keeps electing.
Get ready for the water wars
Ya, the 3 stooges who’ve been in charge for too long. Notice how they all bash CA for the same issue, but of course sid & the 3 stooges don’t do a F… thing about it. Of course blame everything on the big Cities, in true to form the failed leadership of this State
This guy is ahead of his time. We should all be concerned about this issue!
Republicans brag about growth and basically paying businesses to move here. Also republican taking native Texas land from individuals for water. If we don't have resources then stop bragging about growth. Miller is a crook.
Being smart is one thing. But Texas' problem is more complex. There is a culture of exploitation.
And 500,000 people move here every year.
@@WesleyAPEX exploiting Texas?
@@WesleyAPEX Even if 0 people moved there, the water problem won't go away.
@@WesleyAPEXyeah and they are all basically clueless. They do it because the prices are lower but they’ve been slowly going up and up and up and now it costs just about as much as everywhere else. There’s hidden fees too. People are naive. The government in Texas sucks too.
You’re comment is missing a crucial aspect of fracking.
First time i've seen someone in Texas speak about something that truly matters. As a trucker from Houston, we definitely have a ton of wasted water that needs to be collected. I wish the rest of the republican leaders stop complaining about what they don't like about others, and do what matters beyond party issues.
It's very corrupt. We have no shortage of water. The San Jacinto River authority just want complete control.
Conservatives would have to do something they just can't - they'd have to realize the environment is important and yes, humans can eff it up. This couldn't happen to a more arrogant state. The State of Karma.
It's not just Republicans...Democrats too...they won't agree on HOW to address issues.
@@cstuartdc Also they'd have to realize you must tax people, especially (gasp!) rich people, and spend that money on infrastructure. In this case, the infrasturcture would be capturing and recycling rain/runoff water, channeling water minimally treated that isn't suitable drinking but is for irrigation, etc... But I think someone called conservation and gov't spending 'woke' so now I guess the argument is over ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@Joe-ij6of yup. I don't get it honestly. For a group that claims to like to hunt and fish they certainly have no interest in protecting their habitat.
But then again, the only thing Conservatives hunt well is a stationary black silhouette of a bad guy in a warehouse.
Looking for future solutions, yet minimizing school funding for future problem solvers.
“Anything those dumb 2nd grade teachers teach, I can equally teach to my 10 grader”
Close down every car wash. He said it specially the rio grande valley. We have one in every corner. Some years ago my city send out mail stating we would get fine if we were caught washing our cars or watering our grass, yet they keep on opening car washer. Pass a bill, close them down!!!
Most of those carwashes recycle their water and use less to clean a car than you do in your driveway. Vast majority of water is used by industry and agriculture. Not residential grass and carwashes.
@@espen2729why aren't you a smarty pants cause all of that was wrong
We need a few car washes. Be logical. Everybody can’t just whip out a hose and get to washing a vehicle. 🙄
@@VVVV-ug1pz hire a friend
@@VVVV-ug1pz i never wash my car, drives fine
More than 50 years ago as an undergraduate I did a study on the Texas water situation. At that time it was predicted that the parts of Texas along and east of IH-35 would see growth and those west of there would see decline. All because of the availability of water. It’s old news. Why haven’t the state leaders taken it serious enough to actually do something?
They traded long-term security for instant profit...the Republican way!
Oh oh. Can't drink oil.
That’s what happens when you elect Republicans. Not that you did specifically but Republicans are lazy incompetent clowns
It doesn't make em money 😂
@@jwrevdave Fatter piggies elsewhere.
Study how Nevada does it especially Las Vegas.
This is exactly why my garden only has native plants and flowers that do not need much water, not only does it beautify my house but it’s more water efficient!!
I have no plants, so I'm a better human bing than you.
@@rispy4875no not at all, every Texan should be growing plants, especially herbs, they have healing properties that you couldn’t even imagine.
u brain dead?
Growing rosemary,mint, and bell peppers, trying to grow some grapes too..@@gracerose4272
I just don't water my yard lol its just weeds and dead grass but whatever
Fracking uses 16 million gallons per well. I wonder why he didn't bring this up.
He said they are doing better at recycling
Do u want an energy crisis to go on top of the water crisis? Btw their recycling methods with fracking have been very efficient so it’s not as much as you’d think
@@evilbunny5 once water is gone fracking will too
And they just pump it underground to dispose of it and in the process they end up poisoning the ground water.
He did
Tell Greg Abbott to stand up like a man and face this issue!!
So wrong & hilarious at the same time. We're both classless😂😂😂
Dayuuum. 👍
People need to get there County to do something. The Valley is blue. Get your people to do something. He talked about other places in Texas that are doing something. The only ones not doing anything is the blue areas. Which is Democrats. Get to your county and speak up to get things done. It starts there first.
How about we stop letting in millions of people because we can't support it
@@FindfreedomInChrist-yb7nsfunny…. Infrastructure required at this sized has to be funded at a state level. Stop blaming democrats for everything, literally a majority of the state has had water problems.
You took him saying one place that was finding solutions to the water crisis and got from that “only blue areas have water problems” like bro what r u talking about?
Rare to see a Texan official this passionate focused and eloquent on the right issues
I like how hes not afraid to call for regulation, because it works.
Regulation caused it.
@BlackJesus8463 ah yes the regulation to over water a poor choice of crop and wash off the land
@@BlackJesus8463BS
@@BlackJesus8463 Its a republican regulation Water for the rich and powerful drops for the rest of us.
@@BlackJesus8463bullshit
So glad to here our commisioner talk like this. I am a retiring Texan and rebuying a home for it. Have been seriously thinking about going somewhere else with more water, I could see this water issue years ago creeping upon us. Same with power grid but I think they have finally approved to double elctrical out put by 2030 which has to happen because that is amount we Need. Remember, Texas 1950s drought made Dallas run out of water. Water was then five dollars a gallon, thats $65.00 in now adays money. Dallas back then did have little Whiterock lake as main water source. That lake became complely dry, it was a lot deeper then also. Midwest has Great lakes, we don't have that. Because of that 1950s drought the Dallas Fathers Group got together and built all our sourronding present day lakes.
golf courses and lawns should be the first to go
Golf courses, backyard swimming pools... remember that Lt Guv Dan wants all grandparents to DIE for their grandkids' future in the Texas Economy. Don't ruin lawns-!! How will these folks overprice and sell burned out bermuda lawns?!!
I was thinking the illegals and commieforninans should go first.
Then so should rain !!
Throwing baby out with the bath water has worked so well for corporate GREED ...
Ur part of the *FRAUD* ...
VOTE HARDER !!!
No, over-development should go first.
Some golf courses recycle their water. They have creeks and ponds that hold the water. They collect runoff water and keep it from going down stream as fast helping to reduce flooding and recharge ground water.
Still not good in the deseret but when they are in areas that see rainfall they actually can help.
Never heard this man speak before. I like him. Refreshing to hear a politician use their time to speak common sense rather than just political rhetoric.
it's refreshing to hear one that is actually intelligent in what he's talking about, also not just blaming everyone else...
Same. If only "cowboy logic" was more common.
I guess you missed his campaign to slap everyone who says "happy holidays". I wish I was joking.
Sid is a friend of mine
Great guy
@@OhBuddhaRyan yep. It's a thing of the past unfortunately. Common sense isn't even common anymore
My father worked in the water industry in Texas for most of his life. I remember him talking about this when I was a little kid in the late 80s. People have known about this for decades. It needs to be addressed.
"Itll be the problem of the next gen" that mentality got us here
OMG-a Texas government official WHO'S REALLY COMPETENT AND ON THE BALL---IT'S A MIRACLE--You Go Sid
They all have their pet projects thats why they vote for each other's bs and then you run out of water. lol
Nah. Check out his Wikipedia. He's a loon
@@lushlife6864unfortunately he is definitely one of those super right wingers and unfortunately a Trumper🤢 BUT i give credit where credit is due n he is absolutely correct w what he is saying here. This may be the only common sense he possesses LOL
@@lushlife6864 He sounds like one
Actually he isn’t but now you see how idiots win elections in this state. Verbal diarrhea about everything except the ways that they cause the very problems they claim to solve.
I like he's being honest. People don't like regulations and added expenses, so it's got to be thoroughly explained why changes are needed.
Exactly
Why should it be a "added expense" the federal government should cover it if the quit sending money to other countries and immigrants. This should be a easy problem to fix.
@@tonystarks7715 so you support government funded subsidies for your water consumption. What government funds are going to immigrants ?
@@tonystarks7715 Infrastructure is very expensive. Building aqueducts, filtration plants etc doesn't create itself.
@@tonystarks7715because the core of a red state is limited federal government. So maybe that’s why they haven’t stepped in.
And yet they keep electing officials who are concerned about making money to line their pockets, which is why they have an electric problem as well. So they are running out of water and electric and have nobody but themselves to blame!
Texas is so much about big consumption and little to no effort in conservation. Just see how trash cans overflow with plastic bottles and you'd be hard pressed to find any recycle bins. Why environmentalism has taken on any negative connotation around here is beyond me.
In terms of the water, overpopulation has lead to a progressive dwindling of all resources across the board. Hoards of people looking to save a few bucks have made conditions unbearable for both natives and newcomers alike. Any block that used to have trees have all been torn down to build hundreds of new living spaces. And that's every block across the city. Not only is over consumption a factor but it's no wonder we've been having bizarre weather patterns and excessive heat. This level of congestion without remedy can only lead to some forms of implosion.
As a Texan I am surprised how unconscious the general population is
perfectly stated. it's happening to my community in real time and it is devestating to not have any say in it.
It's American pride. Living in abundance and nothing will happen.
Well said
Just to be clear, it is not just Texas. When it comes to plastics, recycling has been a complete failure. Only 5% to 6% of plastics actually get recycled in the United States. Oh sure, for years cities across America have collected our recycle bins but most plastic items collected are not actually recycled. And because the new plastic is relatively cheaper to produce - Corporate America decided to continue with the status quo, and to lie and deceive the public about recycling all because it wasn't economically feasible...
Losing 88 billion gallons of water is insane.
Removing farms instead of chemical plants.1808 chemical plants in Texas.
Maybe if they stopped watering golf courses every day there would be water.
The city of Houston has a water line rupture that has been flowing for over 2 weeks now on Eldridge…
TCEQ Harris County has never ever answered any of my questions, they always send us to someone else somewhere else. We need that leadership in Galveston who control Harris county to be removed for harmful neglect.
City of Houston is terrible when it comes to water line breaks or leaks. On my route to work there was a leak in the sidewalk with a steady flow, took almost a month for them to repair. Lots of water went down the drain.🤦🏽♂️
MAKE A VIDEO of the rupture.
@@Comm0ut @JohnDoe-kr9nb worked for me in Dallas - viral video of Dallas' "Blue Hole" got the city to shut off & fix the years-long issue within days.
yea but we get so much water some of it being wasted doesnt matter much, Dont let these hill country cities take our water though
Around two years ago, Texas signed a new regulation regarding water, conservation and the HOA. If you design your property for water conservation your local HOA no longer has the right to fine or criticize you. Remember that this only counts to water conservation and flood management… you can’t just plant whatever you want. They have to be natives or analog, drought resistant species. I converted my entire front yard to native habitat close to two years ago. my HOA sent me a letter stating I wasn’t allowed to plant what I was planting and that removing my lawn was against HOA guidelines. I proceeded to send them to the new Texas regulation and I have never heard back from them since. We no longer have the excuse of an HOA… they will resist, but the law is the law.
Texans have to look out for Texas, this is our home and no one’s gonna do the right thing except for us.
Maybe if people stopped voting for people who are clearly lining corporate pockets, and making it more difficult for THE PEOPLE. Things would be better. Frankly, Texas is so corporate it's sad. What freedom to breathe in polluted air, and have contaminated water. Boil water affects are so great right!?
We better spend all the money on the border vs fixing the issues in our own backyard. Right?
Let's see what other people are doing in their backyard and get mad about that vs taking care of our yard.
Democrats are the party of corporations.
That's right! We don't need no stinkin' border! 🙄
Couldn't have said it better!!!!!!!
My State CA is no better. It is so corporate here. The PG&E ( energy co. Monpoly ) owns my governor. Our governor is owned by a bunch of special interests. But he loves being corrupt. I rather have Greg Abbot run CA than the goons we have.
Wrong
Quit making us have grass in our neighborhoods. Give us the option to have gravel or just dirt.
Native plants would be great and recent erosion too
Get elected to your HOA and change the rules…does somebody else have to do everything for Texans?
Someone can come and remove my grass to make it native!!
@@jjohnson796 You tried so hard to look smart lol. "Get elected and change the rules" Are you really that stupid and don't understand how all that works? Serious question
Isn’t grass good to hold in moisture? Would having gravel or dirt get too hot?
Get rid of HOAs. Outlaw golf courses. Put a ban on greed landscaping by businesses. Limit the amount of car washes.
It’s not just Texas, everywhere in the US is losing its water it’s just that some are losing it faster than others
This comment is What about ism.. doesn’t help find solutions.. he’s bringing up solutions
@@rog3129 No? I'm not saying he's wrong, I'm saying that this isn't just an issue for the southwest US. Hardly whataboutism
It sounds to me like the state of Texas has been mismanaging its water consumption for a long time. You don't grow melons, rice and sugarcane in a climate which is not high water yielding. These industries have been artificially producing on the basis of irrigation which cannot continue to be sustained over the long haul. If you want water solutions, you have to allow your water aquifers to replenish through natural means and switch to sustainable agricultural practices. You get plenty of rainfall in Texas. Rainwater capture is best used for regenerative agricultural practices.
You should quickly encourage your farmers to switch their harvests to drought resistant varieties and crops. There are plenty. Citrus? Melons? Tomatoes?! These are water intensive! Learn the industry before promoting solutions!
Texas is big enough that there are regions both with abundant water and without. I don't live in Texas, so I have no real stake, but I will say that I noticed the commissioner being a lot more heavy handed in his condemnation of municipal water waste (which is important, for sure) than in addressing industrial and agricultural misuse, which are also very real. I'm not sure it's realistic to talk about water waste in Houston and the need for more water for agriculture in the west Texas in the same conversation, as there's likely no practical way to move agricultural scale water from one area to the other.
Which part of Texas? Are you calculating the mass growth of population from others who have moved there? East Texas which has an abundant of water? Or west Texas thats more of a desert which has a water issue. Not all parts of Texas has a water problem.
Just like they mismanage electricity
LOL….melons and tomato’s?
No dear, I drive all over Texas for a living for the last 20 years. The only 2 crops I see grown here are corn and cotton, and some rice in coastal areas.
Cotton seems to be somewhat drought tolerant as it’s grown in West Texas as well and the corn….they don’t water the corn here, if we have a mid summer drought, the corn turns as brown as sand.
I don’t even think they grow corn here for food, they use most of it to make government mandated ethanol for gasoline additive, and of course cotton isn’t edible either.
I don’t see much actual food being grown in Texas at scale.
I agree with a lot of your points, Abigail, but one of them puzzles me. How does rainwater capture allow the aquifers to replenish through natural means? If you're capturing rainwater that would have ended up in the aquifer anyway, what have you gained, other than hoarding it from your neighbors?
I live in a limestone house in South Texas that was built when Abraham Lincoln was the President. The waste from the sinks, lavatories, and bathtub is used to irrigate the yard. I upgraded the rainwater collection system when I bought the place, by adding gutters and downspouts. My big project right now is trying to determine if I can lower my well pump 42' or if I'll have to drill a new well. So I think about these things every day.
In my small town in south Texas an Indian company called AVINA wants to buy ALL the water resources that would supply our communities with water for farming and to LIVE so they can build ammonia plants to ship the “green ammonia” to India. We would truly be NEGATIVE in water resources when we already dont have enough. It’s AWFUL
Arizona has an issue like that. The saudis grow alphalfa plants (I think its called) in Arizona and get the water for free. Then they ship it back to their country to feed their livestock. These plants drink up 10x the water as normal farm crop plants and Arizona's water is slowly declining from it, and the rain can't keep up.
And you guys vote in the people that let them do it, so good luck?@@michaelmichaelagnew8503
Because you have allowed for over development and sprawl. That is the state's fault.
The free market will fix it without the state.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
That was sarcasm, in case the laughing faces wasn’t enough for people to understand that.
"sprawl" doesn't mean more water. Each person needs the same amount of water regardless of where they live.
@@michah321A person living in an apartment building will use much less water than someone living in a single-family house. How do I know? I live in a single-family house and will move to a condo after a couple of years because the water bill is the most expensive part of my utilities.
It’s all the local governments trying to make money from developers
@@ianbrown2326 Who’s living in the homes these developers build? I assume it’s not ghosts. Would you rather have people living in the streets like in California?
We shouldn’t grow crops that need to much water in places there is not good rainfall.
In New York State, we have so much farmland. We get so much rain up here. It is strange that serious farmers haven’t moved up to the north east with all this moisture.
Cost of living is maybe too high?@@tterb777
@@tterb777you lost me at New York State
The market should decide that and currently it seems to have chosen to prioritize lifestyle over common sense-food production.
To cold for many crops yes it rains but the climate isnt were it needs to be most of the year for growing @tterb777
Newest Sid Miller fan right here. Thank you, Sir, for this information.
You mean DISINFORMATION? Talk to the HOA’s. Problem fixed!
We need new leaders period.
Representatives, not leaders.
You have guns and no abortions ,what more do you want big boy
You dont need permission to harvest rainwater.
I'm a 67 year old liberal ex-Texan. Thank you for your courage and clarity.
Good riddance. Don't come back!
I'm a 37 year old left leaning ex-Texan. The partisan bs and turning a blind eye because it benefits me in the short-term attitude that is so prevalent in Texas. Has been for decades.
Texans have got to Vote though radical right republican out!
Ex-Texan?
Oxymoron
Thank god you left Texas . We don’t want yalls weird and failed ideology in Texas. Trump 2024!
Individual Rain Water Harvesting is incredibly important. Educating homeowners how to collect and reuse rainwater is very important. Miller is right that cisterns were integral in times past. Both my Family farms had them and used them. Adding a 50g rain barrel is fashion. Utilizing it takes science. And it doesnt take much of thoughtful utilization to make a huge impact in a positive direction.
Yes!
The commissioner points out a great opportunity on the individual homeowners or house renters.
We can harvest rain water ourselves for gardening AND for even drinking water. Buy ourselves a gravity water filtration system. Even with dwindling water resources, I would like to remind individuals of the Flint water crisis.
unlimited population growth, limited water
we are on a water planet, and we are "running out" of water....
We have more than enough water for the 8 billion people here on Earth. In fact we’d need to quadruple the size of our population to worry about if we’d have enough resources on Earth for everyone or if they would run out. We have overwhelmingly plenty of resources left in proportion to support our current human global population. It’s the fact we’re inefficiently wasting recourses which is the problem. I think it’s deliberate. In fact, it’s under population that’s the problem we are currently facing as a species right now on the Globe, not overpopulation…I’m 20, and according to future predictions, on the average, when I’m 60 this planet is going to be a lot more emptier than it is compared to now.
@@Wadiyatalkinabeet_The more people there are, the more resources have to be spent on each of us, because everyone wants to eat, drink water, have a house etc, but considering that resources are not infinite, it means that each of us will become more poor, according to "Cube's Law" and "Rocket Equation".
This isn't the reason at all. That story is stupid. Humans do all the work. Water is being used for fracking in our state. We don't need to use this much water for big Ag and big ranching. We can actually live in a more natural manner, have more urban gardens, and the water would be plenty for us without exporting and importing so much. Like he said, catching water as it falls provides enough water for a family even on 9 inches of rain a year.
Yup. Too arid of a climate to keep building all these extra homes with green grass lawns.
Should be Xeriscaping with local plants for new neighborhoods instead of water hungry non native plants.
So many people moved here in the past 4 years!
Thank God you’re on top of this Sid‼️ We’ve got to put this at the Forefront of everything Now‼️
Sid Miller for president!
Every single mega corporation and farmers with millions of cattle that move here cuts down hectares of old growth trees and wonder why we have a shortage of water. Trees help maintain the water cycle, but I guess all of our congress members forgot that elementary lesson.
This was so informative! Thanks for sharing.
But how could this be? We have so many thoughts and prayers from our governor? Surely we can drink those?
Citizens get what they vote for and the citizens do not have the will to vote for leaders who will take on this issue. Developers always say the same thing --there is plenty of water. Get involved.
Do you think it’s a republicans issue or just not picking the right guy? I think it’s a local government issues both Democrat and republican because they keep giving out land grants to developers
@@ianbrown2326 Texas floods all the time and historically farmers have always harvested their own rainwater. Only thing government can do is make things worse.
@@ianbrown2326 Its not about one guy, its about decades of republicans having unchecked power and using it to milk the Cow dry before they retire. You can try and say its both all you want, but the truth is Democrats couldn't even cause damage if they wanted to right now. There are people who can legally drink who have never living in a Texas where democrats had any power. Think about that. Think about the damage a group can do in small increments over a long time peroid
@@ianbrown2326 Biden tried to give your republican government money from FEMA Abbott didn't want it.
Considering you’ve had republican politicians since 1990, I’d say there’s some correlation.
Growing crops that require a lot of water in an arid,desert land is dumb and a waste of water when cities are running out of water.
maybe cities are part of the problem? Cities are essentially arid wastelands with how much non permeable land they create. Cities should be forced to have the ability to capture rain water on each building. The amount of people moving to Texas is unsustainable and cities are where most of them move to.
Agree West Texas should not be importing water to create green land, thats a major issue. Allot of places out west use rocks and other local crops meant for the desert for their front yard. Those in west Texas should be doing the same.
When people and corporations keep saying that no one is going to tell them how use their water, there is a problem of ignorance and arrogance. Oil companies have polluted the water in Colorado for decades, and $$$ keeps winning.
Gravel quarries waste millions of gallons a month yet they are permitting new ones without questions.
Maybe Texas should vote for a governor with a backbone and that can stand up to capitalistic greed
Abbot is a huge part of Texas' problem!
Texas Governor not helping farmers? Who keeps on voting for him? Don't they care about your supply of water?
He fined Aqua Texas for pumping millions too much to supply unwanted growth. Haven't seen them payed.
Do you live in TEXAS
@@TEXASdaughter I do.
@@joey8567you aren't robert.
@@FlowerPower-r8h nope. Just a rancher big land owner.
Put some rebates and grants in for rain capturement, people will get on board, currently TX only offers 0% sales tax on rain capturement tech, it's a good start
Very important interview ! Thank you!
This isn't just a problem in Texas, this will affect every state. What with hotter weather causing wildfires droughts and stronger storms.
There is no hotter weather. Just propaganda. A very small amount of research would reveal that the hottest weather in the United States was in the 1930s and it has still not ever gotten hotter than those years.
It's almost like our climate has changed 🤔
@@AshtonCoolmanarent most of the wildfires caused by people though. Also wildfires aren’t unavoidable. Lightning hits all the time. This isn’t anything new.
I think the main problem is that we are starting to care less and less about our environment
@@alejandroc7357sure wildfires aren’t avoidable, but as a person involved in wild land firefighting. It’s getting worse and most fires aren’t started by people. Most fires will smolder through winter and reignite in the spring and summer. We rely on the snow pack to keep the fires at bay, this past summer and winter were extremely dry. We’ve never seen anything like this before.
@@Waynebruce234 i understand that when its dry its a bigger hazard but what is causing them? Even when California had that nasty wildfire a few years back. They were saying someone caused it. Also how can you really tell its point of origin and cause once its spread so much?
Their government sits down and doesn't do anything for their grid and water.
Big corporations want to import where they make more money. Congress needs to fix their problems.
They've completely brainwashed their voters into thinking it all the liberals fault, despite Republicans holding all 3 branches of Government for over 20 years.
He has excellent points.
You can't go to the voter and sell conservation. No elected official holds office for long who says we have to use less. The guys not wrong but people are ignorant of how and where things come from. They just want you to get it for them.
Yep the last president to suggest conservation and moderation was one term because of it, Jimmy Carter 😅 also 50 years ago and here we are
@@runswithraptors Yeah, Jimmy told the truth the American people didn't want to hear. He was an ineffective leader but a good man.
We need policies that use water more judiciously, coupled with water conservation education.
Greg Abbott gave farmers and ranchers the right to pump unlimited water. No conservation
Greg abbot out
Actually, the right of capture (you can pump all you want underneath your own property except for certain groundwater districts) has been part of the Texas Administrative Code long before Abbott came along. He should still be voted out of office for a host of other reasons though.
@@greghuff3316 Get out and vote!
We are the conservative party. Let's conserve nothing
@@X9523-z3v vs the Liberal party, that takes away all Liberty?
A lot of good information, some I didn't already know, so I appreciate being brought up to date. People better pay attention, for sure...
Too much wastefulness bc there's too much Greed & Selfishness. 🤔🤨
Problem is cheap food requires farmers to have free water or super cheap water.
That's Texas
100%!!
The idiocy of this is astounding. Sugar cane is one of the thirstiest crops to grow. Oranges also a thirsty crop. Does anyone else see what is wrong here?
Ban oranges!Nobody needs them!
Yes. This guy is somehow blaming everyone but farmers. Pretty sure farmers use several times the amount of most other groups. Maybe industry is a problem.
@@Imaboss8ballThanks for making sense.
@@BrunoHeggli-zp3nl😂 but if we ban sugar cane all of americas obese population will lose thier minds
@@alejandroc7357 Just ban everything!
How about putting our air conditioning condensate to work for us? I diverted my A/C condensate and have been using it to water my garden plants. No chlorine, no fluoride. Have to assume that is better for the soil than municipal water.
Good luck collecting 1000 gallons a week for your household needs
@@bobf1174 Why waste the water?
Clever idea.
All it takes is 5 gallon buckets, or 55 gallon barrels if your air conditioner sits higher. My mother did this when she was alive. When neighbors couldn't water their garden due to drought causing water rationing, her garden was nice and productive. It could also be used for watering animals.
@@etexsly2502 I didn’t say waste it. It is a very good idea. You will probably get 5 gallons a week
all of my big city neighbors maintain plush lawns that look absolutely beautiful but just pouring all of the water into dirt , Texas will never address this crisis
@@blueishxx HOAs are all over Texas where freedom goes to die
@geocam2 the positive community impact from water used on ornamental lawns is trivial compared to ag
Austin saw 30% increases in summer electricity bills for neighborhoods who removed their grasses. The plants release excess moisture into the air therefore lowering the air temperature around the home.
@@SlackerU nonsense. Spurious claim about the bill increase
How do you think water gets down there to begin with? 🤦♂️🤣
Man this guy is on point and ive never heard of him before. He is genuinely concerned about the people that put him in office and hes not pointing the finger. We need more people like him in office like he said we are Texans and we need to start handling business.
I agree with him, he is spot on!
Farmers such as myself are already cutting back on irrigated acres.
irrigation is unsustainable, as we're seeing. land has a natural carrying capacity that should be respected. There are multiple failed civilizations in the sands of the American Southwest that tried (and temporarily succeeded with) mass irrigation.
@@tigerstallion My friend please Google idaho water regulations. That is what is going on here and the outcome that will happen.
Hearing a dude that 100% votes a red ticket call out for EPA assistance tickles me
The right hasnt been against environmental conservation ever, its been against the ludicrous idea of carbon taxes and global warming. The rights main focus on enviroment is clean air and clean water.
@jonathanchristman335 bro the epa does all of that, also we can tell how smart you are by calling global warming ludicrous.
If you've lived in Texas for long enough at least near Houston you've noticed most of the impacts. More Hurricanes during Hurricane season and stronger ones, and it used to get cold during October and November now it's January unless it rains a lot in December then maybe a week in December is cold
@@IvanSal778 the EPA used to do that, now its just about pushing solar and carbon taxes because the organization has been captured by Big Energy.
The Earth goes through geothermic cycles to maintain homeostasis, we are still warming up from the last ice age. Man made global warming is a facade
@@jonathanchristman335Do you know who trump appointed to head the EPA? The gutting of the agency? You got your hips on your shoulders, buddy.
@@jonathanchristman335 carbon taxes are the closest thing to a "free market" way of telling private businesses to NOT ignore their carbon output. there are things called "externalized costs" and in the past, one thing companies used to do was "externalize" the cost of cleaning up trash by dumping it in rivers. Regulation stopped that.
Carbon taxes are a reasonable solution to doing the exact same thing for emissions. Same as gas taxes make all the 20 ton trucks that tear up the roads pay for repairs.
“Good Stuff” straight talk with real journalism gives some hope. Keep doing that thing you did there. Good stuff indeed.
Stop raising water intense crops and pulling water out of the Oglala Aquifer. Crops raised without irrigation. It can be done
Rainwater collection should be more encouraged
Come on Texas .... build some desalination plants .... or .... get your people to understand your state is a desert not a rainforest.
Texas is the most ecologically diverse state in the nation. We are next to Louisiana, you thinks its call desert until it hits that state line and instantly turns into bayou? We've got plenty of water the problem is we live in an intellectual desert, so to speak.
@@cajunguy6502
My bad .... almost 😔 about it, over generalization. LOL
@@johnjacobjinglehimerschmid3555 I get it, it's a joke, but Texas is like 8% desert. Jokes aside I don't want anyone to misunderstand how badly they mismanaged the water situation is. American colonists settled where precise because of how good East Texas was for agriculture.
Texas has 53 desalination plant's in opperation so they have been doing that. I was going to say the same thing but I figured it would be smarter to look up to see if they have them first before stating my opinion and looking foolish.
@@michaelmichaelagnew8503
I've been called out!
Texas should invest in desalination plants. ASAP
And better ways to refill aquifers, and massive investments in nuclear plants.
because the Tx Grid isn't overloaded already
We should dig out our floodways.
@rossr6616 we built gas fired desalination plants in Ingleside Texas for Saudi Arabia...you don't know how it works do you 😂 . It just boiling water to steam. Removing the salt by evaporation.
Stop leaking pipes, sewage recycling, rainwater harvesting, seawater toilet flushing in coastal cities (lower embodied energy with fewer chemicals to treat the water).
This video needs to be viral😮😮😮
Meanwhile foreign countries come to Texas buy land, and use our water to grow crops and ships the crops back to the sponsoring country…. Using all our resources!
Some, but it's mostly the good ol boys don't want to face reality that their way of using water is wasteful. Texans move here to live and are destroying our water supplies, not by ignorance but stupidity.
No country or private corporations should be allowed to buy land in the USA or any other country, the land belongs to the people of the country not corporations or foreign governments.
Yep I think this is the biggest issue and it just isnt in Texas, its a major problem in Arizona too using their underground water supply.
The vast vast majority of water is used by agriculture, not cities or carwashes or house households.
Conservative leadership will just ignore environmental issues tobtheir detriment.
Yeah well anything on the left pretty much ignores everything beneficial to the entire country. Nothing from the left has benefited the United States in the last 25 years. Nothing.
Houston, San Antonio - Austin corridor, DFW. Overbuilt in the last ten years. Building suburbs and ex-burbs where they don't need to be because everyone needs a mini-mansion and developers don't plan smart on landscaping. Instead HOA's and the like all want green grass and sprinklers instead of smart landscaping for arid land.
Yee ha texas!
Less than 8% of water used in the US every day is for residential. Industry and ag takes the water. Billy turning his lawn in to zero-scape isn't going to make much of a dent.
This problem is all over the country. People who have money want to eat their cake too. Look at all the rich people in Californa and their mansions. Look at their Lawns it puts allot of other states to shame. This is an eppidemic around the whole country, people with money feel entitled and they think they deserve to get whatever they want because of it not caring about the trail of destruction they leave behind. This isn't Just a state problem. Most states in the country are having water issues.
This is a great interview! Thank you to Sid Miller for being a responsible commissioner and fulfilling his duty to farmers and Texans! Hoping California leaders follow suit in such times of water insecurity.
It's a matter of soil impermeability. Loss of plant life, soil carbon and fertility, as well as the growing amount of impervious surfaces is where this is original using from.
Harvesting rainwater by several means, as well as reusing greywater will change the water loss trajectory.
Harvesting rainwater in rural areas reduces the amount of labor to manage irrigation, and related costs, reduces drought, erosion, heat wave effect builds farmer and rancher resilience.
Rainwater harvesting in urban areas via bioswales and raingardens is worth it. It reduces infrastructure costs, pollution, ground subsidence, concrete/paving, damage (must choose city-appropriate trees though, with polite roots, growth), reduces water bills, reduces the heat island effect, flooding, etc.
NO. Texas is not running out of water. - abbott
Sid sees the writing on the wall. People are starting to see past Abbotts corrupt little club. 2020 was the highly voter turnout for dems since the 70s. That was before Covid, where Abbotts own refusal to protect people from a pandemic has cause the death of many elderly people who would normally vote for the GOP. I'm not saying the Republicans will lose Texas, I'm saying the Abbott Mafia that has corrupted the state GOP will lose. And when it does, Sid can point to this interview.
Quit building housing tracts ! Do a 10 year building moratorium on new construction . Don’t force large family farms with imminent domain to take to build resoviors
One acre of farm land wastes more water than one acre of tract housing.
No way. We need more housing to bring housing costs down.
@@gregorymalchuk272We need more apartments, like they did in Toronto, not houses.
And turn the place into California? Only the wealthy can own a home.
@@lalodaniels1388 Truth
Texas is about to get a brutal awakening.
While the commissioner does a good job of talking about water use and waste, and at least has some ideas about water conservation, he tap dances around the real issue, there are too many people and not enough water. It is not complicated.
Save the water:
#1. Close all car washing business,
including mobile services.
#2. Stop new home development
What about data centers ? Data centers can use a lot of water per day, ranging from 300,000 to 5 million gallons, depending on the size of the facility. How many data centers are in Texas ?
Stop new home development? 😂
@@DavidMedina-pw5wtRight, so all of Texas will be just like California
If you want a dirty car sitting in front of your 1.3 million dollar 2 bedroom rambler, then do this
This man!! Save him from anything!!
Good discussion
If he wanted to do something about it he could’ve taken my advice and allowed for the expansion of Castor growth in the state. Instead he disqualified my young farmer grant for the growth of Castor because it’s “too risky”.
When central and west TX are a desert maybe he’ll reconsider the risks.
Me and my best friend have been talking about this and from what I heard it’s way worse then what Mr Miller was telling us. He needs to scare the state to get us to do what we need to do. Maybe say let’s not be like California and Arizona and be proactive about this stuff. We need to get on this now and not keep kicking the can.
oh itsgoing to get bad. worse than u can ever imagine. there will be wars over water
Great interview
Sugar cane takes a huge amount of water. Grow better crops.
I think it’s time we get people who are more capable of taking care of Texas and ALL Texans!!!!