WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) — A Texas congressional committee is convening in North Texas to discuss the technology and cost of water desalination as the state grapples with persistent drought.
The meeting Monday in Wichita Falls comes as that city evaluates options to shore up its drinking water supplies.
The Texas Water Development Board estimates the city’s supplies are on a trajectory to run dry by 2016.
On Friday, the Texas Commission on Environmental Equality approved, for up to six months, the city’s proposal for a toilet-to-tap reuse program. The city is also considering evaporation suppression and desalination.
The dire situation is fallout from Texas’ driest year ever in 2011. Eastern Texas has seen some relief but a recent U.S. Drought Monitor map shows that 69 percent of the state remains in drought.