Water Rationing for Rich People

Rancho Santa Fe, California is about to become subject to water rationing for the first time, and some residents aren’t happy, according to this Washington Post story that really has to be read to be believed (h/t Ned Resnikoff):

RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. — Drought or no drought, Steve Yuhas resents the idea that it is somehow shameful to be a water hog. If you can pay for it, he argues, you should get your water.

People “should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful,” Yuhas fumed recently on social media. “We pay significant property taxes based on where we live,” he added in an interview. “And, no, we’re not all equal when it comes to water.

[Emphasis added.] Continue reading

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Texas Town to Treat Toilet Water for Tap

US Department of Agriculture [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsAccording the Burnt Orange Report, the city of Wichita Falls, Texas, is going to begin recycling its own wastewater because of the drought:

Nope, it’s not a two-weeks-late April Fools’ joke: The city will be recycling 5 million gallons of “potty water” into (hopefully) clean and (fingers-crossed) drinkable water.

The decision to reuse the wastewater comes after existing restrictions have reduces waster usage by half.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality tested the water for 41 days to ensure that it is safe.

My knowledge of water and wastewater treatment procedures is based solely on an Intro to Environmental Science class I took in the fall of 1996, but in that class we took field trips to get a fourth credit hour. We visited both a water treatment plant and a wastewater treatment plant. The city of Houston drew water from the Trinity River and treated it to make it potable. It treated its wastewater to remove the worst contaminants (poo, condoms, corpses, etc.) and dumped the decidedly non-potable water back into the Trinity River. The wastewater treatment plant was downstream from the water treatment plant, because otherwise Houstonians would be drinking the same water they peed in not too long ago. Continue reading

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“The pastures of plenty are burning by the sea”

Texas had the worst drought in its history in 2011, and it ain’t getting any better.

If you lived in Austin last September, you have some idea how bad the drought got, but not really. If you lived in Bastrop or Steiner Ranch at the time, you lived it.

BuzzFeed published a photoset a few days ago that everyone should see:

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Coyote pups, only a few weeks of age, come to the dying stock tank to drink from the murky water. These predators stand with their legs splayed apart in order to remain on solid ground to prevent becoming mired in the mud.

Photograph by Wyman Meinzer

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In hopes that the rains will come, optimistic farmers sow their wheat crop despite the extreme heat and choking dust that follows the tractors and plows.
Photograph by Wyman Meinzer

The title of this post is from “Homeland Refugee” by the Flatlanders:

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