My most useful reads:

• Chronicle summary of Pro & Con debate (AWU vs Enviros)
• Chronicle editorial by Nick Barbaro (not impartial, but satisfyingly vehement)
• Save Our Springs Alliance’s brief on the issue

To me, Nick Barbaro’s point is the most salient:  if there isn’t enough water in the lake, there’s no point in having an extra plant to pump all that non-water.

With everything we know about this summer (2009), and everything we know about upcoming climate change, we know that’s a likely scenario.  So why are we still talking about this?

What we’re facing is a collective failure of imagination.  Imagine this:  take the $400 million(!!) that would be spent on WTP4 and use it to finance a conservation revolution!

We could enable home and business owners to retrofit, boosting the local economy & stimulating “green” job growth:

• replace high-flow with low-flow toilets
• install rainwater catchment systems
• install drip irrigation
• install wastewater reclamation systems

The Austin Water Utility could also fix leaking distribution lines (a dismaying percentage of the water we already treat doesn’t reach its intended recipients), as well as add capacity and efficiency to our two existing treatment plants.

…and that’s just what’s in my head so far.  What happens when we, as a city committed to being a national leader in environmental action as well as general creativity and awesomeness, get creative on this issue?

The side effects of that kind of public-involved, collective action versus solely institutional action can be many, but up front: people feel out of control on the issue of climate change.  Let’s show them there’s something they can get started with.