Water Panic

After reviewing the Texas Tribune, it seems that numerous articles are being written in regards to the growing water drought in Texas. Even after all the recent rain, it has become apparent that not much was beneficial to our water conservation projects such as aquifers.  This has caused numerous problems for the state, and is having a strong negative effect on agriculture. Many farmers are relying on underwater aquifers to supply the water they need to pump out to their crops since there hasn't been sufficient rainfall to sustain them. There have been many ideas proposed by politicians to preserve the water including the imposing of extremely expensive fines on farmers who pump out water from underground aquifers that exceeds a set standard limit. I feel that this is not the answer. I believe that would be poor leadership to design a "solution" that endangers one of the most crucial industries to our economy and even survival, the production of food. The decisions to impose harsh fines are more of a rush decision inspired by panic then a sound decision that will combat the problem. There needs to be more intuitive proposals set by our state government that will aid in resolving the issue rather than prolonging it.

There obviously has to be several factors considered in combating this issue. One must consider how much money is available, what infrastructure could be designed to retain more water, and prioritizing the water to who needs it the most. Installing more aquifers to capture more rainfall isn't necessarily the answer since that doesn't guarantee enough water retention to sustain our agricultural needs. I think agriculture deserves high priority in water rights since water is absolutely critical to their success. Instead of imposing fines, I believe a more appropriate route would be developing more effective use of the water. We can't reduce agriculture need for water, but we can reduce the amount of water needed for effective crop growing. I believe creating more funds for better technological improvement in irrigation and other water uses in agriculture would have better long-term sustainability. This would aid in lowering water consumption and taking the pressure off of these water conservation organizations. Whether this could be a potential answer to the problem or not, Texas needs to look into solutions that take steps in solving the problem instead of avoiding it.