Proposal {N.K}

Lubbock Water Crisis

As they say Lubbock has been in the “state of exceptional drought since 2011” but it is not believed that the city is running out of water for several reasons. One is that Lubbock enjoys the Ogallala Aquifer that is a groundwater supply and is not influenced by the lack of rain in a year or two. City of Lubbock also proudly set up a plan named Strategic Water Supply Plan in February 2013 that ensures supplying water to the residents for the next 100 years. On the other hand there are some disputes on if farmers should have the right to use their wells as much as they want or not. [KCBD staff, 2013]

Regulation on water in west Texas made many farmers and landowners outraged. More than 100 of them were gathered in Feb 2012 in the public hearing held by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District (HPUWCD). Although they made a plea for removing the restrictions at the end it turned out to have no influence other than a 2 years amendment in which the restrictions will not be put into effect and penalties would not be charged. [Pelt. T., 2012]

I think people as permanent residents would care about saving water and how they use it. But people as non-residents like students would not give it much care. Also, people who use water for their business always want to make more money, because that is how they make their living. But, if we run out of water, the lives of millions will go at stake. So the question is who should care more about water?

Here there would be some hypotheses; as for farmers as the most prominent users of water, they should take the highest care for the usage. But farmers will not restrict themselves, unless they are forced to be restricted. That I believe is hard to establish, as the law in US is based on local law and state law. As for state law, they have an absolute right to use as much as they want from their wells. So it makes it hard to establish such rules. Another hypothesis is that, the population in Lubbock is growing due to the more students that Texas Tech is attracting here each year; this is a group of people who have no or less care about water because they won’t live here for long. So, maybe it has to be considered when attracting students. I mean both the capacity of the city and the cultural advertising about water for the students should be on the table. {N.K}

References:

1.    KCBD staff. (2013, Aug 16). KCBD. Retrieved on October 26, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/23156106/city-of-lubbock-disputes-water-shortage-claims

2.     Pelt. T. (Feb 2012). KCBD. Retrieved on October 26, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/16983979/farmers-landowners-protest-proposed-water-conservation-rules