High And Dry

There's a saying in these parts that goes something like this: whiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting over. That's becoming more evident daily.

We had a record drought here last year. This year started off with average amounts of rain, but the last few months have been hot and dry. Rivers and lakes are still down about 50%. Wildfires are becoming more and more of a concern. With that as a background, here's some disturbing news.

We have a small vacation house on a lake about 90 miles north of here. Since we only use it occasionally, our utility bills are usually pretty small. So it came as something of a shock when the most recent water bill was around $150, approximately four times normal. We called the local water utility and requested a meter re-read. They went out and confirmed the reading. Our next thought was that there was a leak somewhere, but that didn't make sense because I turn the water off at the meter when we leave to prevent water damage in case of a leak. We were stumped ... until we got the following email from the president of the neighborhood Property Owners Association.

____________ reported that person(s) unknown apparently stole several 1,000's gallons of water from their house over the past month. The theft was discovered when the bill, which is usually the minimum, was received for the last billing cycle and was in the $800 range. The owner is working with (the utility company) and the County Sheriff is investigating. If anyone has any information, particularly of vehicles pulling water trailers, etc., please call it in to the Sheriff's department.

So yesterday I drove up there, double-checked the meter reading (it was correct), confirmed that there was no leak, and discovered that the water cut-off valve was in the on position. The only possible conclusion is that someone stole 15,000 gallons of water from us. That's how bad the water situation is down here.

And just to top things off, the back yard was torn up; big, long furrows, about 6 to 12 inches deep. The culprit? Feral hogs.

For those of you not familiar with feral hogs, here's a short primer.

Feral hogs were imported into Texas over 300 years ago. The “Russian Boar” was imported into Texas by ranchers and sportsman in the 1930’s. It is the cross breeding of these two that give us the feral hogs that we have in Texas today. These feral hogs are growing in numbers that are very alarming. Hogs can reproduce twice a year with a litter of 4 to 6. These animals destroy crops, uproot fields, destroy and contaminate watering holes, carry diseases, and kill other animals, such as deer, cattle, goats, quail, turkey and other livestock.

They are nasty, dangerous critters. Here's some more info.

The water theft problem had an easy fix. I padlocked the water cut-off valve in the off position.

The hog problem is going to be a little tougher.

Where's Krystal Campbell when I need her?