In this issue’s Q&A, Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Todd Votteler, interviews Karen Guz, Presiding Officer of the Water Conservation Advisory Council.

Karen Guz leads the conservation team at San Antonio Water System (SAWS). The SAWS conservation team is tasked with proactively saving at least one billion gallons of water annually and managing demand during drought periods to prevent excessive escalation of usage. Both objectives are built into the SAWS water management plan that treats conservation as a supply.

Guz has been with the SAWS conservation team for over 20 years. During that time, she has enjoyed working with diverse stakeholders, participating in national water efficiency research projects, and serving Texas through her role as the municipal representative on the Water Conservation Advisory Council (WCAC). She currently serves as the WCAC presiding officer.

What is the WCAC?

WCAC is an appointed body of 23 stakeholders who work together to advance water conservation success in Texas. WCAC approved a charter in 2009 that describes the objective “to serve as a select and expert resource to the state government and the public on water conservation in Texas.”

To accomplish this, WCAC convenes several times each year, receives information from national and regional water efficiency experts, and appoints working groups to explore topics in detail. WCAC produces a biennial legislative report outlining critical conservation successes and steps needed to accelerate conservation progress and makes recommendations for legislative actions.

Why did the Legislature create WCAC?

The Legislature has a strong motivation to ensure the success of conservation in the future. Recent state water plans have stated that conservation will be necessary to ensure we are able to meet the future water needs of Texans. Nearly 30% of future water needs will come from conservation activities proposed in the regional water plans. With this at stake, it is logical to have a diverse body of water experts who can track the progress of meeting conservation goals and suggest actions to accelerate that progress.

What is the mission of WCAC?

WCAC was formed by state legislative action in 2007. WCAC’s mission is to “establish a professional forum for the continuing development of water conservation resources, expertise, and progress evaluation of the highest quality for the benefit of Texas — its state leadership, regional and local governments, and general public.”

How many members serve on the WCAC, and what interests do they represent?

Texas water needs and usage patterns are as diverse as our state. Understanding how to achieve conservation success requires input from many viewpoints. With this in mind, WCAC was designed to ensure broad representation. Membership currently includes these stakeholders and representatives:

What are the activities of WCAC?

Chapter 10 of the Texas Water Code outlines the expectations of WCAC, which is composed of volunteers. Each member comes to their role understanding that a great deal of research and collaboration is needed to achieve our goals with limited resources. The result of WCAC’s work is presented in the biennial report to the Legislature.

The specific assigned work of WCAC includes:

• monitoring trends in water conservation implementation;
• monitoring new technologies for possible inclusion by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) as best management practices in the best management practices guide;
• monitoring the effectiveness of the statewide water conservation public awareness program;
• developing and implementing a state water management resource library;
• developing and implementing a public recognition program for water conservation;
• monitoring the implementation of water conservation strategies by water users included in regional water plans; and
• monitoring target and goal guidelines for water conservation to be considered by the TWDB and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Does WCAC work directly with the Legislature?

Legislation clarified in 2015 that WCAC may make legislative recommendations pertaining to the future success of water conservation. However, as a body, WCAC does not directly lobby for specific actions. Members may provide educational information for elected officials in the form of briefings and may testify upon request at hearings.

What do you consider to be some of WCAC’s most significant accomplishments?

WCAC has worked closely over the years with the staff and leadership of TWDB as well as with other key agencies and organizations. Successes in moving conservation standards forward have always been the result of these collaborative efforts. 

WCAC sets out to complete the tasks assigned to us by the Legislature. WCAC is proud of its information-rich biennial conservation reports for the Legislature, the conservation award programs, the updated best management practice documents completed and adopted, and the recommendations WCAC has made that have been codified in law or process.

Often success has meant continual improvement in how we track and report conservation data and therefore understand water use patterns. Examples of this include ensuring uniform definitions for gallons per capita per day (GPCD) and how to calculate total GPCD and residential GPCD. Today the online reports created by TWDB reflect this clarity so that these key metrics always reflect the same meaning for all water utilities. In the past this could be very confusing.

A more recent success has been highlighting the importance of valid data processes in water loss auditing. The WCAC Water Loss Work Group engaged in many meetings with TWDB staff and experts to discuss how data validity analyses tied to required water loss audits could improve outcomes. It was exciting when TWDB found a way to complete a pilot study of this issue and has supported a greater emphasis on data validity going forward.

WCAC looks forward to encouraging advanced conservation activities and ambitious conservation targets and goals.