Water Conservation

While areas of the U.S. along the Mississippi River are inundated with too much water, here along the Texas Gulf Coast are in a severe drought. But even in years of abundant rainfall, we are in an unsustainable pattern of taking more water from ground wells than is replenished by rain. Depletion of groundwater has many consequences one of which is subsidence. In order to stop the depletion and therreby stopping subsidence, the state of Texas is requiring counties to have Groundwater Subsidence Plans. The long and short of it is that water for our community lakes, water for lawn maintenance, and even water for household use is going to become exceedingly expensive.   I am all for conserrvation but this is going to be a real problem for us because our smaller pecan trees and fruit trees will die without water. Another problem is that on our clay soil which expands and contracts with water, we have to keep the ground around the foundation from drying out, contracting and cracking the foundation of the house. We are considering having a well put in on our property just for the trees, garden, and foundation. I haven't looked into the cost but I am anticipating $2,000 to $5,000. We have until 2013 so I have time to get the information and make a decision. Stay tuned for the continuing water saga.