One Day there was No More Water....

The stories, like ballads sung over and again said the jobs had played out when the industries folded because water was scarce and could be had only by those who could afford it. Then a sickness came and fires roamed the world and smoke blanketed the land like a fog smelling oddly of burning rope. They tried to take the guns but many remained. It was ammunition, better than gold when available, that became in short supply. There followed great stealing and robbing and people roamed the countryside like mice in a panic. Some said the law, or what little existed, was worthless because it protected only the rich who had their own sweet-water wells. So the poor made do with cisterns though more often than not they drank from the stagnant holdings of ditches and lakes that smelled of things they did not understand. Then the money, like the wells from which no sounds ascended when pebbles were dropped into them, went dry….

From the novel, The Trail

By: Arturo Longoria

Throughout much of the Southwestern United States people are worried about where they will get their water.  In places like South Texas droughts have reached critical levels.  Deep South Texas has been declared in an “Exceptional Drought” which is the most severe designation given to any drought ravaged area.  Austerity programs are often employed and the region has had to curtail its water use before.  But invariably the towns and cities quickly return to high levels of consumption once the immediate threat is gone.  Now and then a hurricane blows through and deposits copious amounts of water but instead of remaining watchful and careful the municipalities quickly spend their water as if their reservoirs were unlimited.  It would seem that greed trumps prudent behavior in a system dependent on reckless economic growth.  So what comes next?  Some towns are now saying they will be out of water by summertime.  Other places, despite what’s going on all around them, continue to waste water simply because their allocated amounts have not reached severely low levels.  So what is eventually in store?  Please allow me to reiterate:

….There followed great stealing and robbing and people roamed the countryside like mice in a panic. Some said the law, or what little existed, was worthless because it protected only the rich who had their own sweet-water wells. So the poor made do with cisterns though more often than not they drank from the stagnant holdings of ditches and lakes that smelled of things they did not understand. Then the money, like the wells from which no sounds ascended when pebbles were dropped into them, went dry….