When you go without 'significant rainfall' for 2 years, watering plants, unless they're producing something to eat, isn't a high priority. In the drought that preceded this one (1950-'57) in San Antonio you could be fined for watering your lawn or washing your car, you were asked please not to put more than 2" of water in the tub or to shower for more than 15 minutes, & you practically had to get down on your knees & beg for a glass of water in cafes. At that time Bexar County (San Antonio) had about 350,000 people--& 1 water supply, the Edwards Aquifer. Bexar County now has over a mllion people--& 1 water supply, the Edwards Aquifer.
The Edwards is a series of underground caves & waterflows that is wholly dependent on rainfall for recharge. Unlike aquifers like the Ogalala or Trinity Sands, which hold water that fell as rain 100,000 or so years ago, the water that comes up out of the Edwards could have fallen as rain last month. That's what makes water so critical for South Central Texas. Here in Seguin we were dependent on the Edwards--& the Guadalupe River--for a long time, but Seguin now has wells in the Carizzo-Wilcox aquifer, which supplies no major cities. It's also not dependent on immediate recharge.
This doesn't mean aquifers like the Ogalala or Trinity Sands can't be depleted. When deep-well drilling came into the Texas panhandle in the 1880s, it was common to find water at 200 ft or so.. Nearly every creek in the region had beds of quicksand in it. Water is now reached at 600+ feet in that area & there's not a live bed of quicksand in the entire panhandle. Much of this has happened since WW II. Before that, the panhandle was nearly all ranching, with wells drilled to supply water for towns, livestock, & railroads. After WW II it turned to broad-acre farming, mostly cotton, & to irrigation. I've seen gasoline-powered pumps up there spewing out 4" streams of water that simply filled the road's bar ditches & was used for nothing at all.
