Saving Texas Waterways

Texas is home to about 7,000 lakes, we as Texans have had our fair share of fun memories in these waters. However, as much as we love our lakes, we simply don’t take care of our waterways. According to the Environmental Protection Agency TRI report, Texas is ranked first in the U.S for toxic dumping. Let's dive into how Texas ended up in this position and how the Lone Star State can help better our waterways. 

The state of Texas has been going through an industrial uprising specifically in the petrochemical and oil and gas sectors. Petrochemical industry includes extracting and processing raw materials like petroleum and other natural gases to produce a wide range of chemicals and materials used in several industries and sectors. These productions can cause toxic discharges into waterways. This is particularly a large issue in Texas; as of 2020, 16.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals is the highest volume of any other state, according to 347 Water. 

There have been many government efforts to combat this issue such as the implementation of the Clean Water Act. However, there have been actions to narrow this bill making it harder to reduce pollution. Fortunately, there is a new water infrastructure law and the Lone Star State will be receiving $507,971,000 to upgrade its systems. The city of Austin is adopting a new green infrastructure to cut urban runoff. 

Despite the new water infrastructure law raising awareness to protect our Texas waterways it is crucial that we as a community do our part. Ways as a community to do our part is filing a report when encountered with an illegal dumping incident on an organization such as Texas Commision on Environmental Quality. Most importantly simply raising awareness can make an immense difference, the more we create a conversation the more we do right by our lakes.