Homeless Teens in Denton County

What’s Happening in Copper Canyon – November 2011

By Sue Tejml Mayor of copper Canyon

CONTENTS:

“ Homeless Teens in Denton County”.

Please see the front page for the story of homeless teens in Denton County. This is not a minor problem. LISD counselors have identified them. Over 125 have found a refuge this year at the First Methodist Church of Lewisville. On week days from 4 p.m. after school until 9 p.m. they can go to the church and bathe, wash clothes, eat a snack, study in a quiet place, or just “be there”. After that hour, these homeless teens have nowhere to go. They “couch surf” in a friend’s home, sleep in cars, or find shelter in abandoned buildings. These are not drop outs; some have even been accepted to college.

Mark Your Calendar: Town’s Santa Party for Kids – December 10 th

“ Romo’s Rib” (aka Ross Morales) wins First Place at State Fair!

Copper Canyon’s tradition of Mutual Respect in discussing Town Issues

Town Photographer Denise Remfert has book signing at Barnes & Noble Saturday November 19th from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Cross Timbers Artist Guild Tour Saturday-Sunday November 12 th & 13th

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Monday November 14 th at “Round-About” for Road Openings!

Thanks to Denton County Commissioner Andy Eads for Honoring ICA Agreement for Interim Road Repairs to Copper Canyon Road and Chinn Chapel Road

Thanks also to Council Member Dan Christy for almost four years of awesome help with the rebuilding of our Town Roads. Planning and Zoning addresses Revisions to Accessory Buildings Standards

When does the Town consider a New Ordinance?

How Many Ordinances does Copper Canyon usually pass in a Year? Not many.

Gas Well Drilling and Pipeline Routes required new Town Ordinances

Town Council and Staff enjoying a “break” in pressing Town Business

Argyle Fire District Declines to Provide a Site for a Cell Tower

Record low rainfall continues to Reinforce the Drought

Texas legislature must fund Long Range Planning for Water

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Mark Your Calendar: Town’s Santa Party for Kids – December 10 th

The Town’s annual Santa Party for Kids will be the second Saturday in December from 4-6:00 p.m. at Town Hall, 400 Woodland Drive. (Please note the party is an hour earlier this year, from 4 to 6, instead of 5 to 7.) Again, the most popular event will probably be the children’s rides atop the Argyle Fire District’s big red fire engine, courtesy of AFD Fire Chief Mac Hohenberger.

Members of the Copper Canyon Women’s Club, as a special treat, have decorated ginger bread houses to auction off at the Santa Party for their College Scholarship Fund. The houses will be on display at Town Hall the month of December and will be judged for, “Most Beautiful”, “Most Original” (Denise Remfert has the leading edge with her Texas Alamo made of gingerbread), and the Booby Prize for “absolutely worst possible execution.”

Several of us are claiming that latter prize in advance, as in dismay we watched our gingerbread roofs slide off and our walls collapse in and out due to icing that didn’t set up as an adhesive. And then there’s the fondant icing that sets up rock hard and crackles into bits and pieces when you try to slice it into shingles or fence pickets. Actually, this was an incredibly fun night for the Club members. And the section of the Council Chambers with tile floors is perfect for messy craft projects like this.

Volunteers will be decorating Town Hall for Christmas Saturday December 3rd from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. If you’d like to help, come on down!

“ Romo’s Rib” (aka Ross Morales) wins First Place at State Fair!

Once again, our Town has some outstanding chefs! Ross Morales is a junior at Marcus High School and has grown up in the Woodlands. He entered his “Romo’s Rib” in the State Fair BBQ Competition last month. The categories were Ribs, Chicken and Chili. Approximately 30 teams were competing for the coveted Big Tex Trophies.

Romo’s Rib Team headed down to Fair Park at 5:15 a.m. that Friday morning. After unloading the Backwoods Smoker, tables, and tents - and getting the fire ready - the ribs were on at 7:30 a.m. Turn-in time was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. After patiently waiting for the judging, their name was announced as the winners of the rib category!

Romo’s Rib team will be back in 2012 to defend their Texas State Fair title. Ross’s dad Art Morales is a dealer for Backwoods Smoker. (And his mother Sheila is our Town Secretary!) Hopefully, the Morales family will share some of their outstanding family recipes in the Copper Canyon Cookbook’s 2011 Holiday Update.

Copper Canyon’s tradition of Mutual Respect in discussing Town Issues

Copper Canyon residents have a tradition of mutual respect when discussing issues that affect our Town. I have been presiding at Council Meetings for six years as Mayor. Only once have I reluctantly had to use the gavel at my seat. (The Town’s gavel is a “mini sledgehammer” and makes a huge bang if used.) And only once have I had to ask a Town resident to “sit down”. That resident had stood and interrupted the Deputy Sheriff who was reporting to the Council on Calls for Service for the month; he had stood and interrupted the Town Engineer who was explaining the status of road repairs and reconstruction; and he had interrupted another Resident who had been recognized at the microphone to explain his concerns on an issue. Coming to Council Meetings is a good chance to visit with your neighbors that you may not see on a regular basis. But once the meeting begins – if you would like to continue your conversation – please step outside on the front porch and do so. Otherwise, it is difficult for those around you to hear persons registering opinions or suggestions at Public Input or to hear the monthly reports being presented. Common courtesy in not interrupting will be appreciated.

Town Photographer Denise Remfert has book signing at Barnes & Noble Saturday November 19th from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Denise Remfert has been Copper Canyon’s volunteer Town Photographer for almost six years. She’s the one who has taken the photos of all the Town Committee members for the Collages of Volunteers hung at Town Hall. She also took most of the photographs in our recently published Copper Canyon Cookbook. And it is her traditional, much loved photograph of the trees arching in a canopy over the Poindexter Creek Bridge that has graced the large mural in our Council Chambers.

But her latest venture is unique. “Rowdy’s Night Before Christmas” is a child’s bedtime story book. Lynn Simmons of Argyle authored the text, which has a rhythmic cadence when read aloud. Lynn’s 3 month old Yorkshire Terrier is the star of this picture book rendition of a classic old Christmas tale. Denise said it took four sittings with the puppy for a total of almost five hours of photo shooting. Then Denise and Lynn had to choose from among over 300 proofs for the final edition.

The book is a perfect early Christmas present for a special child or grandchild. As author and photographer, Lynn and Denise will be signing their book at Barnes and Noble in the Shops of Highland Village from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday November 19th.

Cross Timbers Artists Guild’s Annual Studio Tour November 12 and 13

The Cross Timbers Artists Guild is again hosting its annual tour of local artists’ studios. The Kickoff Reception will be Friday night 7:00 p.m. November 11th at the Grand Theatre across from the entrance to the Lewisville City Hall. The public is welcome to enjoy free appetizers and view the art gallery. There will also be a cash bar. The actual tour of 15 artist studios is Saturday November 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday November 13th from 12:00 noon until 5:00 p.m. The studios are located in Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Flower Mound, Highland Village and Lewisville. Crafts include jewelry, mosaics, pottery, quilts, oil and acrylic paintings, photographs, watercolors, and wood turned objects and furniture. Besides the art objects on display, many artists will be giving live demonstrations of their specific craft. Maps are available of the tour at www.crosstimbersart.com.

Copper Canyon has two resident artists who will be opening their studios to the public. Marie Klotz, 748 Chinn Chapel Road, creates metal clay jewelry. Slivers of metal in a binder are placed in a clay form and then fired in a kiln. The binder burns off and the metal pieces fuse together to form the finished jewelry. Marie mainly creates jewelry in sterling and occasionally in copper and bronze. Mitsubishi invented this creative process.

Eddie Charba, 904 Meadow Drive in the Woodlands Subdivision, is an enthusiastic wood turner. Previously, Eddie built many large pieces of furniture, but he now limits his wood turning activities to smaller pieces. One of his new techniques is “piercing”. He turns a wooden vessel until it is only 1/16th of an inch thick (i.e. the thickness of a dime). Then he pierces the wood with a 400 RPM cutter the size of a pin head. He said the work is very tedious, and he has to brace his body and hands to be steady. Eddie is also doing air brushing on wood. He uses clear tape to outline a leaf or branch on the wood and then a paint gun to put on a layer of paint. This process is repeated to give depth to the painting with layers of leaves and branches. Eddie is also putting decorative mineral inserts into hard wood.

Missing on the tour this year will be Copper Canyon regulars, potter Eric Orr on Blackjack Lane and wood turner Gene Colley. However, Charba said Colley is still bringing in outstanding artists from all over the world to teach small classes in Gene’s studio on Estates Drive. Artists from Israel, Vietnam, England, and New England have come to instruct classes of only 6 to 8 students. With so few students, the visiting artists are able to provide very “hands on” instruction. Thank you, Gene, for being the catalyst to help improve the skills of so many local artists. (And I miss your guiding hand as a practical but visionary Council Member, too.)

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Nov. 14 th at “Round-About” for Road Openings!

Copper Canyon will celebrate the opening of a rebuilt Orchid Hill Lane and southern Chinn Chapel Road with a “ribbon cutting” ceremony at the “Round About” intersection of the two roads. Denton County Commissioners Andy Eads and Bobbie Mitchell will be doing the honors. Shawn McMahon, owner of the general contracting firm McMahon Contracting, L.P., will also be an honored guest of the Town. As will be our supervising engineers with Halff Associates, Brian Haynes and James Gaertner. The ceremony will be at 6:00 p.m. Monday, November 14th, before the 7:00 p.m. regular Council Meeting. Residents who would like to participate are also invited to come to Town Hall to enjoy home baked desserts and refreshments before the Council Meeting begins.

Thanks to Denton County Commissioner Andy Eads for Honoring ICA Agreement for Interim Road Repairs to Copper Canyon Rd & Chinn Chapel Rd.

Fortunately, we are enjoying a brief respite in road construction. Denton County will not have bond funds available to complete the rebuilding of Chinn Chapel Road in concrete until after the first of the year. However, the severe drought has caused cracks in the asphalt of Chinn Chapel Road that are too wide for crack sealing. But, Danny Smith, foreman with Commissioner Eads Precinct Four Road and Bridge department, said as soon as his large maintainer returns from major repairs, the county will look at cutting out and replacing those sections of asphalt that the drought has caused to buckle and separate. Thanks again to Commissioner Eads and Denton County for honoring their ICA (Interlocal Agreement) with Copper Canyon to maintain Chinn Chapel Road and Copper Canyon Road until the roads can ultimately be totally rebuilt.

Thanks also to Council Member Dan Christy for almost four years of awesome help with the rebuilding of our Town Roads.

Council Member Dan Christy has been the pillar the Town has leaned on for road expertise for almost four long years. Dan has three degrees from Texas A & M in construction management and architecture and an active development career spanning several decades. He was the Design Manager for DFW Airport’s Terminal D and brought Dallas Independent School District’s last $1.2 billion building project in ahead of schedule and under budget. This is the level of professional expertise that Dan “volunteers pro bono” for our Town.

Every month Dan dedicates hours to personally reviewing every construction invoice submitted by our road contractors and every engineering invoice submitted by our Town Engineers. He has the professional expertise to spot if any line item is irregular or excessive. Fortunately, with only very minor exceptions, all invoices have been on target. That is due to the quality of our Town Engineers, Brian Haynes and James Gaertner with Halff Associates - and the quality of the contractors the Town has been able to attract by bundling road projects, Quality Excavation, LTD and McMahon Contracting, LP.

To date, ninety per cent of our interior residential roads have been rebuilt or resurfaced. Orchid Hill has been rebuilt in concrete; the southern quarter of Chinn Chapel Road has been rebuilt and the massive drainage re-routing project completed. That leaves only the following road projects. The County is beginning the rebuilding of all of Copper Canyon Road from FM 407 to Hickory Hill, including the “railroad quiet zone” as you turn north toward the Old Alton Bridge. Rebuilding of the northern part of Chinn Chapel Road will begin after the first of the year, when the County will have road bond funds available for this already scheduled project. This will include a railroad “quiet zone” on Chinn Chapel Road and repairs to the Poindexter Creek Bridge. These major road projects could easily take a year and a half to complete.

Woodland Drive still needs rebuilt, as does Jernigan Road. The Town is accumulating funds for Woodland Drive. Rebuilding Jernigan Road is such a huge expenditure that we may again approach our County Commissioner for help with it. Rolling Acres Drive will also need resurfaced in a few years. This leaves only the Estates Drive Bridge project, and our Town Engineers Halff Associates are applying for a grant.

Dan’s Council position is up for r-election this coming May. I sincerely hope he will consider casting his hat in the ring for one more two year term. It would be extremely hard to replace his level of expertise with not only road construction, but economic development. And Copper Canyon’s 200 acre retail development is ready to kick off on FM 407. Dan, we need you. Please come back.

Planning and Zoning addresses Revisions to Accessory Buildings Standards

Homeowners on both Mobile Drive and Ranch Road had asked the Council for relief in the cost of building accessory buildings that met the current building code standards. The major extra cost was in the requirement that the exterior of accessory buildings match the exterior material of the main residential structure. If the home exterior was brick veneer or stone, then the current code required that the accessory building match that. This particular building code section had always exempted agricultural structures, such as barns and loafing sheds. It also exempted any accessory structure of 200 square feet or less. (A single car garage can be 10 feet by 20 feet, so anything smaller than that example was not under discussion.) Accessory buildings larger than 200 square feet can be strictly for extra storage, can house a recreational vehicle, or can be a hobby or work shop.

Planning and Zoning members realized that they needed a balance between cost of materials and yet ensuring that the exterior of the accessory building “blended” in appearance with the main residential structure. Fortunately, they were able to achieve that balance by requiring that the color of the exterior walls of the accessory building match the primary residence’s wall color. In addition, the roof of the accessory building would match the color of the residence’s walls, roof, or remain a corrugated metal color roof.

Accessory Buildings are not allowed on Easements

Estates of Copper Canyon: Two separate incidents of accessory buildings being placed on easements had been brought to the Council’s attention. The first concerned an accessory building placed over an easement in the Estates of Copper Canyon subdivision. Homeowners there had great difficulty in getting the building’s owner to relocate the storage structure outside of the easement.

Copper Woods: The second concerned a light industrial facility that was secretly constructed on an electric company’s utility easement by an adjacent resident in the Copper Woods subdivision. Four different homeowners nearby asked why laborers in construction vehicles were regularly entering and leaving this site and carrying construction equipment through residential neighborhoods.

One of the four neighbors located aerial maps on the internet that clearly showed over an acre graveled construction site with multiple accessory buildings protecting a wealth of metal equipment. There was also a parking pad for construction vehicles. This neighbor knew that utility companies consider that amount of metal and business activity under a major electrical power line to be a definite safety hazard. The neighbor emailed a link to the aerial map on the internet to the power company. The power company enforced its safety regulations and insisted that the adjacent resident immediately dismantle the light industrial site. (NOTE: This same resident fondly extols the need to keep Copper Canyon “rural”. But evidently saw no conflict in secretly constructing an acre large light industrial site in the center of town and immediately adjacent to a neighborhood of very nice homes.?!?)

Accessory Buildings May not be built over Septic Systems

This requirement would seem to be a “no brainer”, but P and Z made sure it was in black and white. The experience with homeowners irresponsibly building over utility and drainage easements encouraged the Commission members to spell this out.

Assessory Buildings must comply with all Zoning Set Back Requirements

All accessory buildings must comply with the zoning set back requirements for the major residential structure. This requirement, in addition to not allowing accessory buildings to be built over easements or septic systems, narrows down the available locations for accessory buildings. P & Z decided to not limit either the size or the number of accessory buildings allowed. Obviously, larger acreage home sites would have more available space for extra buildings than one acre lots.

A sincere thanks to P&Z alternates Louise Williams and John Brothers for making the effort to attend the meeting. It is not unusual for a regular member to have a last minute conflict and not be able to attend. So Louise and John’s presence guaranteed the meeting would not have to be postponed for lack of a quorum. And thanks to new P&Z members Andre Nicholas and Tom Reed. You both contributed some very workable ideas and a practical balanced solution to the issues.

When does the Town consider a New Ordinance?

Several people mistakenly thought our Town Attorney had initiated the proposal for an update of the accessory building section of our current ordinance. Actually, the update process (or a new ordinance) usually begins when a Town resident complains or makes a suggestion about some issue to a Council Member. The Council discusses the issue in open session, and then decides if they want the Town Attorney to bring some possible clauses for Council discussion and Public Input. After Public Input, the Council decides whether to go forward with the update to an ordinance, or recommends that the Town Attorney redraft any of the clauses, or decides to not go forward with the issue. (Our Town Attorney represents 4 municipalities. The smallest has a population of 600 and the largest has a population of 65,000. However, the attorneys in his firm represent 20 or more towns in North Texas. We draw on this extensive pool of legal experience. It is far more efficient, and less expensive, to consider clauses that these attorneys have already drafted for towns similar to Copper Canyon than to “recreate the wheel” each time we want to update an old ordinance. We can easily tailor the individual clauses to be relevant to Copper Canyon’s particular situation.)

How Many Ordinances does Copper Canyon usually Pass in a year?

It varies. One resident complained that Copper Canyon passes “too many” ordinances. Actually, our Town passes very few ordinances and most of are a “state required” nature. For the year 2011, the Council has passed 5 ordinances: one to accept the canvas results of the May Council election; one to adopt the Budget for the next fiscal year, one to set the tax rate for the next fiscal year, and one to adopt the new FEMA floodplain lines. (The FEMA ordinance makes Town residents living in flood plains eligible to take our federal flood insurance if they so desire. ) These ordinances, and ones similar to them, are regularly passed each year by all municipalities as required by state law. Similar ordinances would be the adoption of the periodic editions of the International Building, Plumbing and Electrical Codes – with modifications relevant to our North Texas area.

The only new ordinance in Copper Canyon in 2011 was to regulate the discharge of firearms within Town boundaries. This ordinance was brought about by residents on one acre lots complaining of gunfire behind their homes coming from large acre tracts. Two long time residents from a large acre ranch, Jeff Browning and Chance Lybbert, helped the Council arrive at a compromise that so far seems acceptable to most Town residents.

Some ordinances apply to just a very few persons. Examples of those would be the restriction on where a Registered Sex Offender could live in Town and not allowing cyclists on roads under construction and detour routes during road construction.

Gas Well Drilling and Pipeline Routes required new Town Ordinances

Four to six years ago the Council and Staff were handling the constant drilling of five gas well sites in Town and the installation of their connecting pipelines across Copper Canyon. Our Town Attorney Terry Welch did yeoman service in advising us on how to handle this landmark event expeditiously. As a result, the Council balanced the economic interests of the mineral owners with the right to peaceful enjoyment of their homes by landowners in the vicinity of the drilling sites. Since then the Gas Well Drilling Ordinance has had a few minor revisions. The Council also adopted the “Best Practices” in guiding our relations with pipeline companies laying lines within our Town boundaries.

In 2008 the Town, with the professional expertise of our Town Engineers with Halff Associates, successfully applied for and were granted almost $12 million dollars in county road bond funds. These funds would allow the town to rebuild two of our heavily traveled perimeter commuter roads in concrete – Orchid Hill and Chinn Chapel. The next year was devoted to the education of the Council and Long Range Planning Task Force on the condition of our interior Town residential roads and our options for funding their rebuilding. Then came the campaign to share that learning experience with Town residents, in hopes they would vote for a road bond. Thankfully, they did. And the Council passed the Road Bond Ordinance implementing that election result.

Town Council and Staff enjoying a “break” in pressing Town Business

For the past two years, the Town Council and Staff have dealt with virtually non- stop road construction. Almost 90 per cent of our interior residential roads have been resurfaced or totally rebuilt. The northern end of Copper Canyon Road from the Old Alton Bridge to almost the dead end into Hickory Hill has been rebuilt by Denton County. Orchid Hill has been rebuilt in concrete and a new railroad “quiet zone” installed. The southern quarter of Chinn Chapel Road has been rebuilt and a massive drainage system installed under the road to prevent storm water backing into Town residents’ back yards.

But – we are enjoying a “break” in pressing Town business. The next major step for Copper Canyon will be the development of the retail area restricted to the Town Center North and Town Center South areas along FM 407. We will be drafting an ordinance that requires “green” LEED (Leading Energy and Environmental Design) standards for buildings, landscaping and drainage for those retail areas.

Argyle Fire District is asked to Provide a Site for a Cell Tower Steve Woody, owner of Emergency Responses Services (ERS), asked the Board of the Argyle Fire District to consider providing a site for a cell tower. Woody needed a 50’ by 50’ square on the southwest corner of the new fire station on Copper Canyon Road for a 180’ tall tower. (For comparison, the Lantana water tower is 150’ tall.) The pole has been engineered to sway and can withstand hurricane force winds. The tower has no guy wires to secure it to the ground. It is constructed of galvanized steel, so that it also does not have a reflective glare. No identifying exterior lights are required unless the tower exceeds 200 feet in height. Most towers are erected no closer than twice the height of the tower to a residential boundary line.

Woody offered a flat monthly fee for a 30 to 50 year lease with a 3% annual increase in that rate. He also offered an additional 15% each month of any sales revenue from renting space on the tower. The top vertical 30 to 50 feet of the tower is the “sweet spot” for tenants. That area can accommodate a maximum of 4 to 5 tenants and is most lucrative if rented to a telephone provider such as AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. (Wireless internet service providers do not need to install as much equipment on a tower, but they prefer to be at a 300 foot height.) 800 amps of electrical power would need to be brought to the pole or approximately 200 amps per tenant carrier. Cable would be pulled up the inside of the tower with a winch. Metal climbing steps would be inserted on the exterior of the tower, but the bottom 12 feet of the steps would be removable so that unauthorized persons could (hopefully) not access the tower.

Woody’s company has a similar tower in Roanoke and other fire districts have allowed cell towers on their fire station sites as a source of revenue. The Board did not accept this proposal, as more investigation into prevailing rates and conditions would be needed. However, from an aesthetic standpoint and to prevent a negative visual intrusion on surrounding neighbors, the Fire Board voted to deny the request outright.

Governor Perry extends Emergency Status of all 254 Texas Counties

On October 31st Governor Rick Perry extended his proclamation certifying that “all counties in Texas are currently threatened by exceptional drought conditions and an extreme fire hazard due to a continuing disaster in Texas.”

Senator Jane Nelson’s “Capitol Digest” last month gave even more sobering specific details. She said, “The drought in Texas has covered the entire state and sparked wildfires that have burned over 3.8 million acres; destroyed more than 7,000 homes and businesses; resulted in 4 deaths; and continues to strain the resources of our local fire departments.”

Record low rainfall continues to Reinforce the Drought

Our area is supplied by water from Bartonville Water Supply Corporation. Its water source comes partially from wells and partially from surface water from Upper Trinity Regional Water District. Upper Trinity receives surface water from Lake Lewisville, owned by the City of Dallas, and from Lake Chapman. Lake Chapmen is 33% below its capacity. However, that is better than Lake Lavon, which is one of the major water sources for the North Texas Water Utility District, which serves Plano and Carrolton among other area cities. Lake Lavon is 40% below its fill level.

The following rainfall table was featured in the “Dallas Morning News” October 30, 2011 and illustrates how serious the deficit in rainfall in North Texas has been in the last 12 months. The totals are in inches recorded at DFW International Airport; the source is the National Weather Service. The annual deficit of 13.88 inches is a 38.41% shortfall in normal rainfall for our area. (*Without a serious storm in May, the annual rainfall deficit would have been even worse.) The shortage of rain in other parts of Texas – Austin, Houston, and West Texas - is worse.

Month Actual Normal October 2010 1.16 4.22 November 2010 1.50 2.71 December 2010 2.05 2.55 January 1.60 2.13 February 0.92 2.66 March 0.07 3.49 April 2.46 3.07 May *7.95 4.90 June 2.84 3.79 July 0.09 2.16 August 0.96 1.91 September 0.66 2.55 Total 22.26 36.14

Carlos Rubenstein, one of the three commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), recently testified before the Senate Natural Resources Committee of the Texas Legislature. He said “91 per cent of the state is now facing extreme or exceptional drought conditions and 956 [of 4,721] public water systems have imposed voluntary or mandatory restrictions on water use.” The Dallas Morning News commented, “In addition to the most intense single- year drought in history, Texas has had the largest agricultural losses and most destructive wildfires on record this year.” (Source: Dallas Morning News, November 2, 2011, page 3A)

Texas Legislature must fund Long Range Planning for Water

The state has developed a long range plan for adequate water resources for our future. What is lacking is funding. Water is becoming a very expensive resource; and one that will increase in scarcity in the future. Water is not free; nor is the cost to buy the land and build the reservoirs to store it until needed, or to buy the right- of-ways and construct the pipelines to bring it to both metroplexes and small towns like ours.

What is needed is a fair method of funding – and we will all need to pay. Our standard of living is based on the easy availability of clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, cleaning our home. And we have been spoiled in the past with inexpensive water for lawns and landscaping. We are going to need to learn new systematic ways of economizing in the use of water for both personal and home use. And we can. It’s a matter of acknowledging the scarcity, realizing the cost, and changing our day to day habits in the way we use water.

The food in our versatile supermarkets is also grown using copious amounts of water. Agricultural universities like A & M have already begun research into developing food sources that require less water to grow and mature. Businesses that regularly use water are going to need to learn new methods of conservation. Fracking gas wells is a prime example. Devon Energy is researching how to recover frack water and reuse it.

The legislature next meets in January of 2013. So, if you know a Texas legislator or senator, encourage them to help find a fair funding system for all our future water needs. And reassure that elected official that you realize there will inevitably be a “cost to pay” for adequate water. But planning for funding future water resources for all our needs must begin now at the grassroots. We all will benefit, but we all must be willing to pay for that incredible benefit of having adequate water in our daily lives. And we must be willing to change our own personal habits to conserve this precious resource. Nothing is more persuasive than leading by example. Our children and grandchildren observe us – and learn – or don’t. It’s our choice.