Texas agriculture commissioner warns of water shortage: ‘We lose about a farm a week’

Texas's agriculture commissioner is sounding the alarm on a lack of water resources and a scarcity the state may soon face.

Sid Miller said some parts of the state have already run out of water, while others are on the brink of the same fate.

“We lose about a farm a week in Texas, but it’s 700 years before we run out of land. The limiting factor is water. We’re out of water, especially in the Rio Grande Valley,” Miller told WFAA, the Dallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate.

“They usually grow five crops of vegetables in that area,” he said, adding that now “they have enough water to grow one. So, our production’s down 80% and it’s all about water.”

Several factors are contributing to the water shortage, including recent drought conditions, the state’s population growth, its overreliance on groundwater, and aging infrastructure, according to the Austin-American Statesman .

Miller called upon Texas state lawmakers to work to ensure the state water supply is enough for Texas. He also called on the oil and gas industry to stop using potable water for fracking.

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Furthermore, the agriculture commissioner called for city and state elected officials to embrace reuse and desalination practices.

“We gotta recycle our water,” he said. “Our water treatment water goes into the creek, right out in the Gulf. We need to capture that and let my farmers irrigate with it.”