In Texas, every utility that has more than 3,300 connections will have both water conservation and maintenance plans. But conservation and maintenance converge in a specific place: leak detection.

Resiliency is more than hardening our infrastructure to withstand changing weather patterns. Wind. Ice. Tornadoes. Drenching rainfall, crippling drought, and more. Our challenges range from building construction to managing our energy grid, telephone, roads, ports, and more. Water and wastewater systems also must withstand these changes and the uncertain economics that attend them.

Fewer utilities can go it alone these days. Utilities find that the costs of identifying, permitting, and developing new water supplies and the new or expanded treatment and pipelines necessary to get that water to customers have grown exponentially.

Texas has a powerful thirst for water.No surprise there. The Lone Star state has a booming economy. It currently has more than 7000 water systems and the State Water Plan shows that Texans currently use 5.3 million acre-feet of water for municipal purposes, with a projected increase to 8.5 million acre-feet by 2070. Manufacturing uses 1.3 million acre-feet and organizations that self-serve with a...

In 1992 the environmental editor of the Economist Magazine wrote Costing the Earth, The Challenge for Government, The Opportunities for Business. Her principle point was that environmental resources have real value beyond aesthetics. For example, if a wetland is reduced or removed, the function of that wetland has to be replaced: water storage, aquifer recharge, flood mitigation, and much more....

First, let's consider the cost. Upgrading our existing infrastructure, including treatment facilities and delivery systems, leak detection and repair, and new water development comes with a significant price tag. With over 7,000 water systems in Texas alone, the State Water Plan highlights that Texans use 5.3 million acre-feet of water for municipal purposes, projected to increase to 8.5 million...