San Antonio isn’t operating out of water any time quickly and that’s no accident. A long time of planning, coverage shifts and persistence have made town a nationwide mannequin for water safety, at the same time as a lot of Texas struggles to maintain up.
On the most recent episode of the bigcitysmalltown podcast, visitor host Cory Ames spoke with Robert Puente, president and CEO of the San Antonio Water System, about what makes San Antonio water totally different, future readiness and a possible price improve in your invoice.
Puente stated metropolis residents will enter 2026 with no price improve, with SAWS planning to ask metropolis council to vote on a rise early subsequent 12 months. That price improve would go in direction of funding system enhancements, together with wastewater plant upgrades, accelerating leak detection and line alternative throughout 7,000 miles of underground pipe.
San Antonio’s edge, Puente stated, comes from its various water portfolio, stretching far past the Edwards Aquifer with conservation on the forefront.
“We’ve got water coming from a number of totally different sources, floor water, groundwater, 4 totally different aquifers, in order that we’re insulated from numerous various things that will occur,” he stated. “For those who take a look at the state water plan, they discuss reusing water, they discuss conserving water, they discuss storage of water, underground storage of water, and all of these we’ve already finished.”
Puentes credit giant tasks just like the desalination plant in southern Bexar County for strengthening the system’s long-term reliability and outlook.
“We’ve secured our water future into the 2070s. It’s not only a plan. It’s truly what they name moist water,” Puente stated. “In different phrases, water that we will entry as we develop. And so we’re very pleased with what we’ve finished at SAWS over these final 17 years.”
Whereas San Antonio’s inhabitants has surged, he believes the efforts SAWS has made up to now 17 years have stored one metric regular.
“We’ve got the nation’s finest water conservation applications,” Puentes stated. “For those who take a look at our progress during the last 20 or 30 years, we’re primarily utilizing the identical quantity of water now as we have been then.”
As San Antonio continues to develop, he stated SAWS challenges will shift from securing water to sustaining and upgrading infrastructure, together with the maintenance of the 7,000 miles of underground pipes the system will depend on.
That dependability, Puente stated, is what issues most to clients — and what he considers the true measure of success for the utility.
“Each single second of the day we fail or we succeed,” Puente stated, including that “99.99% of the time, the water comes on if you activate the faucet and it leaves your own home if you’re finished. Reliability is essential.”
Click on the hyperlink under to hearken to the total dialog.
