In TX Hill Country, Llano River Running 2-3 CFS; Residents Using Turf Dye On Dead Lawns - NYT

[hatrack]

EDIT

In Llano, a town of 3,100 about a 90-minute drive northwest of Austin in the Hill Country, the river from which the town gets 100 percent of its water supply has been running at critically low levels. One recent afternoon, the Llano River was flowing at 2.3 to 3.4 cubic feet per second, down from 123 cubic feet per second, the median level for that date.

Amid so many yellow lawns, the handful of green lawns are a source of curiosity and suspicion, and property owners have had to post handmade signs explaining, in effect, why their grass is green. Some of the signs read “Well water,” meaning the water keeping them alive comes not from the river but from private wells, which are not subject to the restrictions. One resident with a sense of humor posted his own sign on his dying yard. It read, “Rain water.”

The yard outside the First Presbyterian Church has withered, as has the one around Laird’s Bar-B-Q. But the grass has been green at the State Farm Insurance office. The agent, Jeffrey Hopf, has had customers tell him that just because he used to be the mayor does not mean he can violate the water rules. Mr. Hopf has a simple explanation: His landscaper added a turf dye similar to the one used on professional football fields to turn his yellowed lawn green.

That landscaper, Flay Deats, used to mow five or six yards a day, but now does only about three a week, and he estimated that the drought has cost him at least $30,000 in lost business.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/us/07drought.html?_r=1

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Wonder if the water dept will raise rates to make up for the loss of revenue.

They did here.
A company moved out of town, the water dept increased everyone's rates to compensate.

[phantom power]

2. Turf dye

[Nihil]

4. Wonder how transportable (or biodegradable) that turf dye is?

I bet that anyone nearby who relies on their own well is asking
the same questions too ...

:banghead:

[Terry in Austin]

3. Peculiar custom, lawns

Might even be on the way out, given their dependence on that rare natural phenomenon, Water From The Sky.