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DRIVER-INFRASTRUCTURE-FUNDING-POLITICS 5-year update to 50-year Texas Water Plan QUICK FACTS: **Texas' state water plans are based on future conditions in the event of a recurrence of the worst recorded drought in Texas' history-known as the "drought of record"-a time when, generally, water supplies are lowest and water demands are highest. **Texas' population is anticipated to increase 73 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 29.7 million to 51.5 million, with approximately half of this growth occurring in Regions C and H. Water demands are projected to increase less significantly, by approximately 9 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 17.7 million to 19.2 million acre-feet per year. **Texas' existing water supplies-those that can already be relied on in the event of drought-are projected to decline by approximately 18 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 16.8 million to 13.8 million acre-feet per year primarily due to reservoir sedimentation and depletion of aquifers. **Water user groups face a potential water shortage of 3.1 million acre-feet per year in 2020 and 6.9 million acrefeet per year in 2070 in drought of record conditions. **Approximately 5,800 water management strategies recommended in this plan would provide 1.7 million acrefeet per year in additional water supplies to water user groups in 2020 and 7.7 million acre-feet per year in 2070. **Conservation strategies represent approximately 29 percent, or 2.2 million acre-feet per year, of all recommended water management strategy volumes in 2070 and were recommended for more than half of the water user groups in the plan. **The estimated capital cost to design, construct, and implement the more than 2,400 recommended water management strategy projects by 2070 is $80 billion. If strategies are not implemented, approximately one-quarter of Texas' population in 2070 would have less than half the municipal water supplies they will require during a drought of record. **If Texas does not implement the sta

"Texas became the latest state to implement permitless carry, or Constitutional Carry, on September 1, 2021. There are now a total of 21 states with permitless carry laws on the books. Texas was one of three states to implement this kind of law in 2021 alone."

"Mr. Musk has had an assist from Texas. The state has allocated around $30 million in incentives for SpaceX's Boca Chica operations. In 2013, state lawmakers passed a bill allowing Cameron County to temporarily close beach and beach-access points for spaceflight activity, despite the Texas constitution's protection of the public's free and unrestricted access to beaches." An indication that the community doesn't love it. He railroaded his way in and is staying. I think, sadly most will just leave and take the money.

Not everybody is happy about Musk rolling into south Texas. There are issues with the environment as well - the area he picked is ripe birds and other critters that need protecting from big business.

The battle lines are drawn!

SpaceX is using the county and eminent domain to take the homes in Boca Chica. "SpaceX can't force the residents to leave, but the county can. In 2013, county commissioners established a corporation "to assist in the promotion and development of a spaceport project" in Cameron County. Under Texas law, the corporation has the authority to exercise the same right that lets governments take over private property and compensate its owners. "

"Teacher shortages and difficulties filling job openings have been reported in Tennessee, New Jersey, and South Dakota, which saw one school district begin the year with 120 teacher vacancies. In Texas, Houston, Waco, and a number of other districts saw hundreds of teaching vacancies unfilled at the start of the year."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is evaluating Space Exploration Technologies Corporation's (SpaceX) Starship/Super Heavy program, in particular a proposal to operate the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle at its existing Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas and conduct launches originating from this site. This could be real trouble for Musk. If the FAA makes his life difficult, how will he react?

The hub in South Dallas will be Waymo's "primary operations center" in the state for its fleet of autonomous trucks. The hub will be built to accommodate "hundreds of trucks and personnel" as the company gets closer to launching a full-scale freight-hauling operation using its fully autonomous vehicles - though Waymo has yet to say exactly when that will be.

"History is going to bifurcate along two directions. One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event," he said. "The alternative is to become a spacefaring civilisation and a multi-planet species, which I hope you would agree is the right way to go." Musk has often spoken about his dream of building cities on Mars. He believes that settlements would need large numbers of people in order to become self-sustaining. He also needs someone else to build he just wants the transportation.

It will form a dress rehearsal of sorts for Musk's eventual aim of Martian exploration. And even thought it still sounds like science fiction, Barker thinks we should not underestimate Musk's ambition to reach the Red Planet. More confirmation not to doubt Musk and his drive to Mars.

DRIVER-MATERIALS-INFRASTRUCTURE Municipal pipe market spending makes up 30 percent of overall utility CAPEX for water infrastructure. In part, to address aging pipes, bursts, and other leakage management issues, the pipe market is turning to new materials (plastic) and new technologies (trenchless). More than $234 billion (USD) of capital expenditures (CAPEX) are forecasted over the next decade to address aging municipal water and wastewater pipe network infrastructure, according to Bluefield's forecasts. Precipitated by decades of underinvestment, municipal utilities are under increasing pressure to address deteriorating linear assets at a faster pace. Water losses through leaks for U.S. utilities average 15 percent annually, with some cities, towns, and communities losing more than half of all water pumped and treated for distribution to customers. As a result, rehabilitation of existing pipes is the fastest growing spend category, increasing annually from $253 million in 2019 to $576 million by 2028. Network expansions, particularly in high population growth across the sunbelt states (e.g. Texas and Arizona), will drive the lion's share of spending on new build.