Second in a series on the Texas Triangles.
Water has been crucial in shaping U.S. culture, history and economic progress.
Before European colonization, Native Americans relied on rivers, lakes and coastal waters for food, transportation and spiritual practices. Many settlements were near water sources that supported daily life, agriculture, and trade. Early European explorers like Lewis and Clark followed rivers like Missouri and Columbia to navigate and map the country’s interior. The Mississippi River became a major trade route, linking the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico. Westward expansion was primarily dictated by access to water, with pioneers following river valleys and settlers establishing towns along water sources.
The Blackfeet and Lakota considered water “life” integral to their spirituality and survival in arid regions. The Chicago Portage connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system. The Erie Canal (built in the early 1800s) connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, revolutionizing trade and commerce. It became central to the Industrial Revolution, supporting water-powered mills and factories. Closer to home, The Newlands Reclamation Act, enacted in 1902, funded irrigation projects that transformed arid Western lands into fertile agricultural areas. Texas came late to the table, being recognized as a beneficiary in 1910. Water in arid regions, like the food, fuel and fiber triangle region, is not new. Too frequently, response is slow.
Water rights and access have been themes in literature, film and political discourse, especially in the American West. In short, water has been a defining element of U.S. culture—shaping settlement patterns, economic growth, recreation, environmental policies and geopolitical strategy. According to Terje Oestigaard, a fellow at Sweden’s Linnaeus University, in his text “Water in World Religions: An Introduction,” water is a universal symbol across world religions, often representing purification, life, renewal and transformation. It infuses cultural practices in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Taoism and Shintoism. It is impossible to find any faith perspective that does not hold reverence for the centrality of water in its practices. Even world views not associated with traditional faith conventions, such as contemporary environmentalism, acknowledge the power of water in giving and sustaining life. This is so because it is valid for human history and will be true for the future of all people, without exception.
And Texas is running dry.
The Food, Fuel and Fiber Triangle, also known as West Texas, is sustained by water. The U.S. became a global agricultural powerhouse due to irrigation projects that transformed dry regions, especially in the Midwest and West. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s highlighted the importance of water conservation and sustainable land management. According to the National Weather Service, the Panhandle was the epicenter of the Dust Bowl.
In other aspects of water use, the hub of Texas manufacturing is the Mega Region Texas Triangle, also known as Central Texas. Water is essential. Likewise, water powered the early American industrial revolution, with textile mills and factories relying on rivers for energy. Ports such as New York, Boston and New Orleans became economic hubs due to their access to ocean trade routes. The rivers of Texas, when coupled with Texas’ toughness and self-reliance, mark the impact of water’s essential contribution to commerce, according to the Texas Water Development Board.
The population of the counties in Central Texas is 19,077,923, and in West Texas, it’s 2,282,296. Despite these significant population differences, West Texas uses 45.7% of all water consumed in the state, and production agriculture accounts for 90.5% of the region’s water usage. Food, fuel and fiber require vast quantities of water to sustain current production techniques.
Central to our region and our state, water impacts every aspect of our lives. West Texas uses nine times more water for irrigation than Central Texas; nearly three times the water usage to sustain livestock production, and about an equal amount for mining, including the extraction and production of hydrocarbons to help fuel our state and nation. Significantly higher municipal water usage occurs in the metropolitan region of our state, which is four times higher, driven by the population density in the urban and suburban parts of Texas, according to Texas Water Development Board Data. Interestingly, in West Texas, the per capita contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of Texas (If a nation, it’s the eighth largest on the planet.) is $1,442.35, while Central Texas is $1,447.04. Remarkably, a scant difference of less than five bucks per Texan – $4.69. That’s less than the national average cost of a Big Mac, $5.29, yet about 30% of the nation’s beef and nearly 90% of Texas’ beef comes from within 100 miles of Amarillo/Canyon, the heart and soul of the Texas Panhandle. Not straw-man arguments regarding water consumption but rather evidence of the complexities and the need for a deeply integrated, state-wide policy that recognizes the interdependence of all parts of our state on effective production and resilient utilization of the most precious resource in the history of humankind.
At West Texas A&M University, we are focused on better understanding and appreciating the value of water to our culture, its economic impact on our region and its centrality to the future health, in every dimension, of the State of Texas.
Walter V. Wendler is the President of West Texas A&M University. His weekly columns, with hyperlinks, are available at https://walterwendler.com/.
