I've been cleaning out magazines this morning and came across the July issues of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, which I had somehow set aside and never read. I was just reading an article that says the 2007 water plan for Texas calls for construction of 16 new reservoirs, though there is no detail on which river systems they're planning to dam. That's a crap load of new lakes.

Build it and they will come!

Marvin Nichols is the first one, on The sulphur river just north of Mt. Vernon...........

It actually will probably be bad for ducks. most resevoirs and lakes are going to be built in low lying areas and wetlands that are better habitat for ducks than big open deep lakes. I saw the number on one that is in the planning stages to give dallas county water in the future and the number of ducks using the area now vs what the resevoir would support is staggering. All in all, ducks dont need any new habitat built for them in Texas. They are doing just fine on with what they have.

One of the main points of the article is that when the first big reservoir building boom came in the 50's, nobody anticipated the impacts reservoir construction would have on existing hardwood bottom habitat and coastal estuaries. Reservoirs are bad news for freshwater inflow for our bay system.

And Zack's post is frighteningly accurate - reservoirs are built where existing wetlands and bottomlands are, which is to say along our rivers. You're replacing excellent waterfowl habitat with deep water. Not a fair trade.

Oh, God forbid you xeriscape in a neighborhood with an HOA. They'll be on you like white on rice for not having an emerald green lawn of berumuda grass just like everyone else. What the environmental impact of that lawn might be never comes into play.

There's a cool little two page article in this issue of TP&W about building catch basins out of heavy duty 32 gallon trash cans. The water is then used for irrigating flower beds.

HOA-Code word for cookie cutter homes in a subdivision where everyone is encouraged to be the same, look the same, and have the same interests. Their fees are ridiculous. What I have observed in the real estate business for the past 20 years is that very few HOAs actually do anything tangible for their people. They are more a way for a developer to get a "beer fund" for his own use. There is no way that it takes as much money as they bring in in most cases to maintain their little decorative entrances to the subdivisions and the mail kiosk. God forbid that they really give the property owners anything of value.

You can absolutely forget about any of them ever giving a rip about water conservation as long as the average homeowner is more concerned with having a homogeneous neighborhood rather than liberty and promoting a more sustainable lifestyle. Oh, and by the way, the HOAs tend to not like duck boats in the driveways and a string of true hunting dogs in the backyard.

I reckon that is why I am so happy in an old neighborhood like Western Hills in Temple. No fees. No HOA. And neighbors that pretty much keep to themselves.

I wouldn't live in one as well, but easy on the wording.

The Lower Bois d'arc when built will flood one third of my property and not happy about it. Will lose two duck ponds, will flood my entire creek and kill all of my hardwoods, and the turkeys there now will be a thing of the past because they depend on hardwood habitat and cant exist in open meadows and roost on the ground. Better check your facts on Marvin Nichols, as far as I know, that is still questionable because of extensive bottomland habitat. Firts one that will be built is the one south of ladonia. Unfortunately, my company works with North Texas Mun. Water District. Have heard talk of the reservoirs quite often. They are the biggest jacka$$e$ I ever met. They think they know everything and dont want any constructive criticism, good or bad. They dont have a clue about water conservation and want to build dams from here to shilo. What a joke, now i am getting mad.

The North Texas Municipal Water District should be renamed we "We don't care about water, just so the tax base of our city grows"

I don't know, thats kinda wordy. and It would be hard to squeeze onto the sides of the trucks.

Sounds appropriate to me.

"Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over!" Mark Twain

Years from now, water will become more and more valuable. Some have said it will be more valuable than oil as alternative energy sources are developed and implemented.

One of the reasons Ted Turner and his communist wife are buying up so much land is because they will control the water rights underneath it.

I am 60 miles above New Orleans and there are plans for a 3000 acre reservoir to be built near where I live to supply New Orleans with freshwater because the Mississippi has gotten so polluted and saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico has become a big problem. Hate to say it, but it does not look like you can stop a water issue.

In the not too distant future wars will be fought over water, not oil. 16 new lakes are needed at the current growth trends.

My name is T. Boone Pickens, I was an oil man. Now i plan on building a pipeline that will run water from the gulf into all our desalination plants across this great state...