Houston water services and solutions

As the city grew, Houston water sources could not keep up with demand. After the City Market Fire of 1878, Houston City Council sought new sources and built a water works facility that pumped from the Buffalo Bayou. Then, in 1887, a resident drilled an artesian well and accidentally discovered the third largest underground reservoir in the country—a seemingly endless supply of pure water only 180 feet underneath the city.

In emergency situations, Houston would still pump water from Buffalo Bayou to sustain enough water pressure to fight fires. Residents began to suspect something was off, nicknaming Houston tap water; “tar water.” It wasn’t until 1906 that Houston restored confidence by drilling new wells instead of pumping from Buffalo Bayou.

After WWII, Houston city officials developed longer-range solutions from surface water sources. In 1953, city engineers constructed a dam across the San Jacinto River to create Lake Houston. The city also holds a percentage of the water rights to Lake Livingston (constructed in 1969) and Lake Conroe (constructed in 1973).