An FBvian who’s already dived into the September issue has this feedback re the sure-to-be-controversial cover story, “Hard Truth, Dry Times,” which examines the area’s water needs for the next 50-year planning cycle.
Informative article, but I think you’re leaving a big question unanswered. Suppose we do as you seem to think best, and build a bunch of expensive, destructive new reservoirs to ensure that our city will be able to triple in size by 2060 without requiring anyone to conserve any more than the minimal efforts now under way. What then? In 2060, are we finally going to say, 18.6 million is enough — let’s plan for a sustainable, steady-state economy? Or will the promoters of 2060 have a raft of expensive, destructive new schemes to provide for population growth to 50 million by 2110? At some point, the growth has to stop — we might as well try to help that happen before Northeast Texas is one continuous sprawling exurb. Not by draconian, unconstitutional controls on where and how people live, of course. But we can start trying to have some reasonable, regional planning efforts, and we can stop building massive new projects solely in order to encourage migration to profitable new housing developments.
