It’s well worth reading the full article–and watching Survivaballs chase Sen. Arlen Spector–here.

The basics are these:

• Even after recent rainfall, our current drought surpasses the severity required to kick us over into emergency water management.
• That emergency plan could require 35% reduction of water use from all LCRA customers, including us (the mandatory outdoor water restrictions we faced in August aimed at cutting 25% of use).
• Low volume in the river/lake comes from record low influx from tributaries as well as record low rainfall.

That last point is important–even if we get rain, as temperatures increase due to climate change we’re going to be getting less water in the river.  That’s because the Colorado river is fed by snowmelt–and when it’s hotter there’s less snow, and what snow there is tends to evaporate more rapidly.  (Check out more about climate change in the west & how it affects your water supply here.)

All of which is to say, re: WTP4:  to reiterate:  if there isn’t enough water for the plants we have now, why spend $400 million on an extra one?

And more to the point:  if there isn’t enough water for what we have now, how are we going to supply the predicted population influx at all if we’re not making serious investments in conservation?

• Chronicle summary of Pro & Con debate (AWU vs Enviros)
• Chronicle editorial by Nick Barbaro (not impartial, but satisfyingly vehement)
• Save Our Springs Alliance’s brief on the issue

To me, Nick Barbaro’s point is the most salient:  if there isn’t enough water in the lake, there’s no point in having an extra plant to pump all that non-water.

With everything we know about this summer (2009), and everything we know about upcoming climate change, we know that’s a likely scenario.  So why are we still talking about this?

What we’re facing is a collective failure of imagination.  Imagine this:  take the $400 million(!!) that would be spent on WTP4 and use it to finance a conservation revolution!

We could enable home and business owners to retrofit, boosting the local economy & stimulating “green” job growth:

• replace high-flow with low-flow toilets
• install rainwater catchment systems
• install drip irrigation
• install wastewater reclamation systems

The Austin Water Utility could also fix leaking distribution lines (a dismaying percentage of the water we already treat doesn’t reach its intended recipients), as well as add capacity and efficiency to our two existing treatment plants.

…and that’s just what’s in my head so far.  What happens when we, as a city committed to being a national leader in environmental action as well as general creativity and awesomeness, get creative on this issue?

The side effects of that kind of public-involved, collective action versus solely institutional action can be many, but up front: people feel out of control on the issue of climate change.  Let’s show them there’s something they can get started with.

For the last few years I’ve attempted to align my life with my personal brand of environmentalism (evolving).  I’ve found inspiration in others’ online writings (notably No Impact Man), but never did find exactly what I wanted online:  a how-to guide for how to make Green work in my life, in particular.  Still waiting on that one.

So I’m starting my own chronicle of missteps and good intentions.

Goals:

• to remind myself of my attempts, in hope of betterment
• to chronicle resources for others’ potential use
• to save the world
• to amuse