The Rag Blog

There is sound science that says there is likely to be big trouble, even in supplying Austin’s current population with enough water.

Federal officials have designated portions of 11 drought-ridden Western and Central states as primary natural disaster areas. Map from UDSA.gov. Image from NBCDFW.com.

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | February 6, 2014

First of three.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away”.

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias

 
The threat of drought haunts Austin

AUSTIN, Texas — I have lived in Austin almost 60 years. Ten years ago if someone had asked me whether Austin could survive a drought like that which it is now experiencing, I would have answered “yes” without much reflection.

If somebody asks me the same question today, I will say that Austin MIGHT be able to pull through the next five or 10 years, but only with luck, and with the help of a much different lifestyle that will necessarily require strict water rationing and conservation. The rest of this essay is intended to explain the reasons behind my change of opinion.
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