San Antonio's Water Recycling

On Weekend Edition Saturday, Wade Goodwyn looks at how San Antonio has advanced their water conservation:

"We have a goal to save a billion gallons of water every single year by working with all of our customers," says Karen Guz, the water system's director of conservation. She says the plant is hitting that goal. "We are a community that has figured out that it is better to save water than to worry about having to always just acquire more water."
Guz says it started in the early '90s when the Sierra Club sued the city in federal court to protect an endangered species — the blind salamander — that lived in the water supply of the Edwards Aquifer.
When the judged ruled in favor of the Sierra Club, San Antonio politicians and newspapers spitted with rage. Twenty years later, the current San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro says his city has learned the judge was right.
"The city, over these last two decades, really has made lemonade out of lemons. In fact, the number of gallons per consumer in San Antonio per day that is used has gone down from just over 200 to about 130," Castro says.

All too often, the dreaded changes made by environmental regulations or other activities ends up being beneficial and cost-effective long-term.  But laziness and stubborness cause people to fight tooth-and-nail against change.  So much technological advancement wouldn't come about without the regulation forcing changes to be made.  Inertia is a mighty powerful force.