San Antonio

San Antonio Water System accused the Lower Colorado River Authority in May of reneging on a huge water deal, more than money was at stake. The potential $2.2 billion water-sharing project ran aground after the river authority said it might not have enough water to meet the needs in its basin area while also shipping water to San Antonio.

In one sense, the implosion of the deal was a numbers game, with the LCRA's revised, higher estimates of the demand in its basin for Colorado River water crushing the pact. But in a broader sense, it was about winners and losers, as fast-growing parts of the state compete for the lifeblood that feeds construction and economic development.

Here was San Antonio, an economic engine of South Texas and a major U.S. city that has been desperate to find an alternative to the Edwards Aquifer. The aquifer has long been good to the people of San Antonio, providing cheap, plentiful water. But in the 1990s, as the city's population continued to skyrocket, the Legislature began setting limits on pumping from the aquifer. Attempts to find other sources have been largely unsuccessful.