How concerned should I be about the drought? (Houston, Dallas: transplants, HOA)

[xmasevemom]

My husband and I are looking to make a big move and settle down somewhere to raise a family. Austin, Dallas, and Houston were all under consideration until I read that Texas is in the process of becoming a desert, and that the water situation is going to become dire within several years. I have a sort of hope that I might be able to grow some flowers and veggies one day, and if the water situation is that bad in Texas I may have to find somewhere else to settle.

I'd love to hear thoughts from those who actually live in Texas, particularly gardeners.

[Bo]

I used to grow tomatoes, but gave up during the drought. A garden in a drought needs better irrigation options or more frequent watering than I was able to give mine.

Unless you live someplace without a municipal water supply, the desertification likely won't affect you. If you live out in the country and depend on a single well for your water supply, it might affect you in the next 10 years. Municipalities are generally good about diversifying where they get water.

[love roses]

I garden. It didn't do very well this summer. Tomatoes and Tomatillos dried up but once it cooled down we grew (are growning) Chinese Cabbage, Spinach, lettuce and Broccoli. They are all thriving right now, but we did recently get a good amount of rain. Not enough to end the drought, but it helped the surface soil. My parsley and chives did fine all summer, but the mint died off. Our fruit trees didn't die but also didn't put out much usable fruit. The fig tree did best. I'm a little concerned about next summer but I'm also pretty sure that this drought won't go on forever. Weather cycles happen and we just have to do our best until they change.

[JayBrown80]

It depends on what you are concerned about.

There are two major issues that are effecting the Texas Water supply right now

1) We are having a drought with little to no precipitation.
2) Our population is exponentially growing.

Issue one will resolve itself. Texas has gone thru droughts before, it will go thru them again. Sometimes we have extremely wet years, sometimes extremely dry. As far as gardening goes, I didn't bother this year because I knew we were going to be on such heavy water restrictions. I couldn't even keep my lawn alive.

On issue two however, well, only time will tell on that one. Texas has several water sources b/c we had the foresight to create lakes in places that mother nature wasn't kind enough to fill with water from the outset. However, as population soars, so too grows the demand for natural resources. Water will become a problem in Texas, but clean, fresh drinkable water is going to be a problem for the entire world soon. The human population is growing by leaps and bounds everyday. I don't know where you could move where the availability of natural resources isn't going to pose some type of issue within the next 20 years. Frankly, I wouldn't base a move on that line of thinking. Pretty much anywhere you move in the American Southwest up thru Nevada is going to have water problems. It's the cost of doing buisness out here.

If Texas fits your other criteria, then move here. Just make sure you have jobs lined up. Which is my main concern for transplants, especially those who have a shotgun mentality of "which of these 8 metropolitan centers should I move too?". Usually these people aren't working from home, they are just assuming that wherever they move, they will be able to find a job. In my mind, that is putting the cart before the horse. If you are seriously considering a move to Texas, and you can just plunk down in "Austin, Dallas, or Houston" I wonder what kind of job you have where location is so flexible. These cities are all pretty far apart and have different economies. I would imagine if you wanted to start a family, you would want a stable income, and if I were you my first concern would be "where are the jobs" and not "where is the water".

As far as resources go, jobs are a lot scarcer than water.

[xmasevemom]

Our "shotgun approach" is really more narrowing it down to about 5-6 places we'd love to live, and then sending resumes to all of them until we find work. There is also a high possibility my husband will be able to keep his current job and work remotely if we haven't found anything in any of our preferred cities within nine months or so, though he would prefer not to work from home (we have small children) unless we haven't found anything by November or so.

In Texas we will probably only be actively sending resumes to Austin, but I also have relatives in Dallas and Houston who might contact us if something promising opens up down there, which is why I included those cities in my OP. The other areas we are considering at this point are the Chicagoland area, Pittsburgh, Denver, and possibly Ann Arbor. These areas may seem wildly different but they all meet our peculiar requirements for happy living. We do not need to wring our hands over the job market as we have no real deadline to make the move and he only needs ONE job. Eventually something will open up, especially if we are flexible about location (the dreaded shotgun). Our situation here is stable, just not ideal (we cannot purchase a home in this market and are sick of throwing away money on rent).

Also, by the time we move we will have more in savings than many people much older than ourselves, and we have no significant debt. I appreciate your concern, but it is misplaced. We're not really your typical youngish American couple.

[CptnRn]

You can garden while using water frugally if you use a drip irrigation system, putting the water only where it is needed. Some plants may need some type of sun screening during the hottest most brutal summer months. But we have long spring and fall seasons with moderate temperatures.

[hoffdano]

One issue not related to gardening is choosing a home in an area with a HOA that requires a certain amount of lawn maintenance.

Some HOAs are specific enough to require certain types of lawn grass. Others require your lawn to be green and well watered at all times. If the city chooses to enact some form of water rationing (which will not affect hand held watering like you would do for gardening), your lawn might suffer. Many areas of Texas have St. Augustine grass, which is very thirsty.

My only point is to thoroughly investigate any HOAs you might encounter when looking for homes. I prefer no HOA, but if you have one, be sure you have reasonable flexibility on any lawn maintenance issues.