Austin, Texas, is blessed — and sometimes cursed
— by the water that runs through it,
under it and, unfortunately, over it.
As the one-time frontier settlement has evolved into the political, musical and intellectual hub of Texas, it has relied on water carried through the city not only by the Colorado River — not to be confused with its more famous canyon-carving namesake — but also springs fed by the Edwards and Trinity aquifers that run under much of Central Texas.
Although Austin draws its drinking water from three reservoirs on its stretch of the Colorado, Austin’s drainage
