Texas: no water and AC in the summer, no heat and electricity in the winter
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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I'm feeling so owned right now.
This is somehow California's fault.
If California wasn’t a liberal hellhole then all the MAGAs wouldn’t have moved to Texas! Fucking California sending their people here to steal our resources!
Sorry for all the downvotes. I understood it was sarcasm.
I thought it would be clear with the parent comment but apparently not.
Unfortunately there are more MAGA idiots in California than there are in Texas. They didnt move there because of that one thing alone.
As an outsider, can I ask why is there no ac in summer, nor electric in winter there?
As an outsider I assume it's because their 'independant' (read: under-regulated) power grid collapses every time all that stuff turns on.
Recently we had an exceptionally cold winter staying below freezing for multiple days. Since winter is usually fairly temperate with most days having lows in the 40s (I usually only use the heater at night and have windows open during the day). and only going a degree or two below freezing for a couple of hours, a lot of houses here are not particularly suited to cold weather. We have fairly inefficient resistive electric heat in many houses, and pipes are not particularly well insulated for cold weather.
It got well below freezing for a couple of days, and already several power plants were shut down for maintenance since winter is typically low demand. Anyway, all of this combined to result in the grid being overloaded, doing rolling blackouts, and then peoples pipes froze as well because of that.
Also the Texas power grid is isolated from the other US grids so importing power is not an option.
Since then I have noticed a lot more solar farms, mini natural gas peaker plants/backup generators and other upgrades being put in on backroads when I go for a motorcycle ride.
Nothing in the article about agricultural use.
If I’m reading their USDA census data correctly, over 2/3 of the entire county is used for farming (336,688 acres). Of which 79% is pastureland.
I also wonder whether that city has any golf courses. If so, it's almost guaranteed that they'll be exempt too
The city is saying no outdoor use at all: https://m.facebook.com/blancocityhall?fref=nf&ref=embed_post
Is there any enforcement if the golf course turns their sprinklers on anyway?
Typically, yes. They issue citations and increasing levels of fines for each violation, and they disconnect your water if you don't respond or pay in a timely manner. How quickly they respond to reports and how often they issue citations varies by city. Some cities even employ patrol units to enforce violations during severe drought conditions. Some cities aren't giving out warnings at all anymore but going straight to citations/fines.
But what about the lawns?!
Water restrictions vary by city, but landscape irrigation is indeed restricted. Usually they go up to stage 4, which typically limits to watering once a week or once every 2 weeks.
Apparently stage 5 is defined by the city as indoor use only: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/city-of-blanco-stage-6-water-restrictions/269-22171b66-f29b-4e1a-b57a-9e434ecf34c1
Blanco county is currently at stage 3, which limits watering from 7-10 AM or PM and not at all on non-watering weeks. https://www.txwaterco.com/water-conservation/drought-management/blanco-county-drought-conditions
Interestingly, they include hand watering in the restrictions. My city has designated days and times you are allowed to water, but hand watering is allowed at any time.
Insanity. And they keep building more homes.
Texas legislature outlawing local water restrictions in 3, 2, 1...
That would be extreme even for Texas. Texas has laws in place to prevent HOAs from prohibiting water conservation efforts such as xeriscaping, growing native grasses instead of exotic, rain barrels, etc. Most of Texas undergoes drought restrictions already. If we didn't, we would certainly run out of water. Banning water conservation would be stupid even by Texas standards.
Granted, Texas also does stupid shit such as restricting water usage in communities while pumping out that same water to sell to 3rd parties.
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