Posted: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 09:36 AM - 9,272 Readers
By: Gretchen Weicker
photography by Jay Janner
By a mere droplet, 1950 is still No. 1 as the "drought of record," but 2009 almost won, and now 2011 might. Winning would be losing. With my scorched skin and parched plants, I'm counting the ways I now obsess about water.
As a miracle. Under the limestone layers of Central Texas are vast caves of cool, clear water gathered from rainfall. The American Indians valued the water for thousands of years, as did the German settlers arriving in the 1840s. Sparkling water explodes from cracks in white cliffs to form streams and rivers. Hawks circle. Deer gather. Live oak roots spread shallow and wide. Cacti and juniper cling to steep stones. The caves hold a life-giving sea for millions of us. And on the land's surface we drive cars, build homes, businesses, towns and cities. Ours is a floating world.
As policy. Central Texas is active in strong green coalitions. In one example, our water relies on a wing and a prayer. The golden-cheeked warbler carries us. Through skillful cooperation of the Comal County Habitat Conservation Plan aligned with the regional plan, land purchases must balance "puts and takes" to mitigate harm to small creatures. We are protected like coal miners by a "warbler" in a mine shaft.
Even so, as Andy Sansom, executive director of River Systems Institute, pointed out in the January 2010 issue of Texas Monthly magazine, large, open tracts of land are better for conservation and aquifer recharge compared with smaller patches divided and traded for impact mitigation.
As battleground. We have a fight on our hands. Acronyms like EPA, LCRA, EARIP and GBRA are duking it out. The ordinary person cannot unravel the legal layers, but as one irritated citizen said in a San Antonio Express-News letter to the editor, "Are you guys for real? If we had built the Applewhite Reservoir 30 years ago when we had the chance, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now."
The battle is planetary. "Water is the planet's one common denominator," said James G. Workman, author of "Heart of Dryness," but at the recent Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, water discussions were too politically sensitive to place on the agenda. His Kalahari desert study documents expanding permanent global drought.
As lyrics. Texas can never be "same as it ever was."
"You may ask yourself, what is that beautiful house?
"You may ask yourself, where does that highway lead to?
"You may ask yourself, am I right, and am I wrong?
"You may ask yourself, my God, what have I done?
"Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground.
"Letting the days go by, into silent water.
"Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground."
(Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime")
As finite. The infinitely clever human mind cannot control rainfall. Decisions regarding loops, developments, highways and all growth come down to water. Our water limit is finite, and we've reached it.
Weicker is a retired Austin teacher who lives in New Braunfels.
