State water projections are grim, with several states including Texas, facing significant shortages and increased demand by 2070, driven by aquifer depletion and climate change. Texas could face a 5-to-7- millionacre- foot deficit during a severe drought, while Colorado River Basin states are already struggling with declining supply, as they failed to agree on new cuts to avoid shortages.
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has projected water demand and existing supply for water users in each county, and a recurring, record-breaking drought could take a devastating toll on many, with some scary estimates. An estimated $154 billion investment over the next 50 years may be needed for water infrastructure.
The TWDB projects towns and cities could be on a path toward a severe shortage of water by 2030, with everything, from drinking water to wastewater, and water for agricultural uses, running low in the next few years.
Texas's population growth is expected to increase water demand from 17.7 million to 19.2 million acre- feet per year by 2070.
Hockley County gets 0.4% of its water from surface water , 0.4% from a lake or reservoir, 1.0% from reuse, a process that treats and recycles water, and 98.6% coming from an aquifer which is a ground water source.
Water quality in Hockley County is generally good, with the Katy Hockley Regional Water Plant's tap water being in compliance with federal standards as of the second quarter of 2024. However, the city of Opdyke West was fined by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for water quality issues in 2022, indicating that some smaller systems may have problems.
Hockley County has 16,406 residents who are served by seven different water systems. Combined, these systems have detected 126 total contaminants, with nine above EPA standards.
Statewide, other estimates offer a little more time but are still not hopeful. The state water plan projects that groundwater availability, which is found underground in aquifers, makes up half of the state’s water supply, will drop by 25% by 2070.
The total water supply — groundwater paired with surface water — is estimated to decline by 18% by the same year, in part because of how many people are expected to live in Texas by then and what the state puts in place to secure water supplies – which includes desalination, conservation and aquifer storage and recovery to fixing the failing infrastructure.
The City of Levelland has a drought contingency plan which can be found on their website. The city monitors conditions on weekly basis to determine to warrant initiation or termination of each stage of the plan.
There are five stages in the contingency plan which include Stage 1- Mild Water Shortage Conditions. Voluntary water conservation; Stage 2, 3, 4 Moderate, severe, critical shortage conditions. Customers shall be required to comply with the requirements and restrictions on certain nonessential water uses; Stage 5 - Emergency Water Shortage Conditions. Customers shall be required to comply with the requirements and restrictions. The plan also addresses water rationing in which customers are required to comply with the water allocation plan which includes many restrictions and prohibitions of normal use.
Texas has 16 regions for water planning with each facing unique challenges and tasked with managing their own water supply and the state is developing a long-term water plan that involves significant investment, but challenges remain in building new infrastructure like reservoirs, with some of these projects potentially never being built.
Amid the ongoing worsening drought conditions in Texas, the state's residents face being urged to conserve every drop, even cutting back on simple showers, massive new AI data centers are quietly using millions of gallons daily to keep their operations running, as per a report.
According to a July 2025 investigation by The Austin Chronicle, data centers across Central Texas, including Microsoft and US Army Corps facilities in San Antonio, used a combined 463 million gallons of water in 2023 and 2024 alone - enough water to meet the needs of tens of thousands of households, according to the report.
The scale of water use is massive, as the Texas Water Development Board projections estimate that data centers in the state will consume 49 billion gallons of water in 2025, soaring to nearly 400 billion gallons by 2030.