Posted: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:17 PM - 15,286 Readers

By: Laura Huffman

These are more than just the dog days of summer in Austin. In addition to record temperatures, we are experiencing record drought. In fact, Lake Travis lost enough water in June to serve the entire City of Austin for a year. This same trend played out across the state. Current measures indicate that levels in 109 Texas lakes dropped 4 percent in the month of June alone; that's a loss of 358 billion gallons of water.

Now think of this in terms of population. The worst recorded drought in Texas was in the 1950s. At the time, there were fewer than 8 million people living here. Today, with a population topping 25 million, drought has a different context. Think of it as 25 million straws in our lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers.

This record hot, dry summer has put an incredibly sharp focus on why it is so very important for us to protect the quality and supply of our water.

This week, both the Travis County Commissioners Court and the Austin City Council took major steps toward addressing these issues not just for the present, but also for future generations. The Commissioners Court authorized ballot language for a bond initiative that will invest $82 million in water quality protection and park development. Travis County has an impressive history of investing in the protection of our natural resources, including the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan, which has assembled over 28,000 acres of permitted acreage, along with the acquisition of Hamilton Pool and 2,500 acres along the Pedernales River.

This is a significant investment in protecting our precious natural resources. Preserving these landscapes makes the direct connection between protecting land and protecting water, and ensures a reliable water supply for future generations.

But wait — there's more. The City Council is scheduled to vote on buying 611 acres in southwest Austin known as the Southern Avana tract. This important acquisition will be paid for using the last of the $50 million in open space bonds city voters passed in 2006.

This purchase is significant because the land sits directly over an incredibly sensitive aquifer recharge zone — an area that feeds our local springs (including Barton Springs Pool) and the Edwards Aquifer. It also fills an important gap in publicly owned land to support the Violet Crown Trail Project, which, when completed, will allow every one of us to enjoy these close-in open spaces. Time after time, voters have authorized the city to set these sensitive areas aside in order to ensure a safe and adequate water supply. This has resulted in the protection of nearly 50,000 acres of land in that time frame. The voters have gotten the protection they authorized.

It gets better. In the upcoming November election, voters will have the opportunity to approve Proposition 8, the water stewardship amendment. Currently, property owners in Texas who meet a set of standards for managing their land to promote agriculture or to protect wildlife are eligible to have their property's value assessed at a lower rate, which reduces their property tax bill. Proposition 8 would extend the same incentives to property owners who meet a set of standards for managing their land to conserve water and protect water quality. And because the water incentives in this measure would only be available to property owners who already qualify for the agriculture or wildlife incentives, it would protect water quality and supplies without reducing tax revenues.

This measure was approved unanimously by the legislature, and had the support of Republicans, Democrats, farmers, ranchers, landowners, taxpayers' organizations and conservation groups.

The Nature Conservancy proudly assisted in all of these efforts because protecting clean, safe water supplies in Central Texas is better than buying an insurance policy for the future. It helps guarantee our children's children will have clean, available water for the economy they will drive and to enhance their quality of life.