Texas drought and water supplies (Austin, Burnet: earthquakes, pros and cons, property taxes)

[txsizzler]

Scary!

Texas town relying on tanker trucks for water - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57368748/texas-town-relying-on-tanker-trucks-for-water/ - broken link)

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Even though recent rains have certainly parts of central and north-central Texas, its still just not enough!


Ian

[Dopo]

Now we are going to see all those "Less government people" start asking for the government to go and save their .....

[TX75007]

Read the article. The town uses a well not surface water. And they have had issues for some time.

So, one local water district knew they had an issue, did not do the planning to make sure their well had enough capacity? Like drill another one. Whose fault is that? I'd hold a special election and replace the board of directors.

As for that area and the Austin area in general, the invasion of junipers is a major ecological catastrophe that has greatly reduced runoff and subsurface water over the last 40 years. Every study done has shown that reducing the juniper population by 90% can increase the water supply 100%.

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Now we are going to see all those "Less government people" start asking for the government to go and save their .....

Looks like the government fell on their face in the first place.

[CarlB328]

What do you expect when you put 20 million people in a near desert? Yet they want to double the population, get used to droughts and every other kind of problem. I'm glad I live somewhere now that isn't growing much.

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by CarlB328

What do you expect when you put 20 million people in a near desert? Yet they want to double the population, get used to droughts and every other kind of problem. I'm glad I live somewhere now that isn't growing much.

Yep ... you get plenty of water in the Pac NW. Hope them volcanoes and big earthquakes don't get too active!

roll the dice!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by TX75007

Looks like the government fell on their face in the first place.

Spicewood, Texas has no government to speak of. Its not really even a town (township) as it is unincorporated. People moved there because it was cheap, to avoid paying property taxes like they would have to in a real town. Since there is no government in Spicewood, there was no one taking responsibility for the communities future water needs.

Spicewood, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spicewood is an unincorporated community in Burnet County, Texas, United States. According to the Texas Almanac, the community had an estimated population of 2,000 in 2000.[1]

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by CarlB328

What do you expect when you put 20 million people in a near desert? Yet they want to double the population, get used to droughts and every other kind of problem. I'm glad I live somewhere now that isn't growing much.

Everyone has to live some where I guess and each place has it's pros and cons. As for our growth, a lot of the plates I see around town are from all over the country. It seems we're the only state still producing jobs. Heck, we would probably have more than enough water if our government would enforce immigration laws and people could find jobs else where in the country.

[Lee W.]

There has been too many people moving to the Hill Country from elsewhere for a long time. Some in that area were retirees, some not. There's some lessons there in that story about how NOT to go about planning for future water availability. We can't just close our eyes anymore and pretend that there's enough water available in parts of the Hill Country, even for the present day population.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Lee W.

There has been too many people moving to the Hill Country from elsewhere for a long time. Some in that area were retirees, some not. There's some lessons there in that story about how NOT to go about planning for future water availability. We can't just close our eyes anymore and pretend that there's enough water available in parts of the Hill Country, even for the present day population.

I'm definitely concerned, especially after the last few summers.