A colleague of mine wrote an article for their blog,
"Looking for the Center in Central Texas". I responded to their
article:
It's
interesting you raise this point. The Commissioner of the General Land Office
in Texas, Jerry E. Patterson actually visited my UT Class during the fall
semester and spoke of his project. He was investigating a piece of land that
housed water beneath its surface. In order to obtain the land and disperse it
among all of Texas, it'd cost Texas a pretty penny, however, the water supply
is not only plentiful but also replenishes itself. The problem with telling
Texans to "converse water" is that many take pride in their lawn. As
we grow older, our reputation and pride in our local neighborhood is based on
how well manicured our lawn is. Since I grew up in a retirement area in
Georgetown, TX, I can say from experience that elderly people have no future
plans of giving up on their morning rituals of watering their plants and ensuring
every blade of grass is proportional in size. Also, during this summer's water
conservation efforts, many Texans living within the greater Austin area were
bending the rules and watering their plants while their neighbors could not
because they hired a company to drill a well and tap into the St. Edward's
Aquifer, allowing them to use the Aquifer's water supply to simply ensure they
have green and heathy plants. It's hard to strip a Texas resident's
individualistic desires to have a well manicured lawn. In fact, some can't even
handle that restriction, they'll bend the rules so that they can get ahead of
their neighbors for "best lawn in the neighborhood."
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