Heat. Drought. Fires. Floods. Texas grapples with a new era.
When engineer Manuel Gonzalez moved back to his hometown of Zapata 20 years ago, the Texas community was in a major local drought. “It was their challenge [then]. It’s my challenge now,” he says.
Standing by the reservoir that serves as the town’s only water source, he shows the modest solution he’s been helping to build: A small structure of mud and rock, stretching a few feet into the Rio Grande-fed Falcon Lake Reservoir. At its edge he can pick up cellphone service from Mexico. More important, from it county pumps can access 15 feet of water – compared to 3 feet near the shoreline.
His effort is part of a transformation underway in a state that is feeling effects of climate change like never before…
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