"Concerns About a Shrinking River Are Beginning to Heat Up" is an article presented in The New York Times that explains a tragic story of how a river that once flourished and provided aid to farmers throughout Central Texas has now deteriorated into small collections of sitting pools of water. Once upon a time, the San Saba River stretched for one hundred and forty miles throughout Central Texas; whereas now the river has not only been put on the endangered rivers list, but is at the top of the list with a ranking of third (Hamilton). Not only is it a tragedy that this water source is declining, however this water resource was a main source to farmers who once used the flowing river that came right through to their farm. .
The water management struggle has been something that has been dealt with for many years now. Different precautions have been attempted but no strategy has truly been beneficial. Examples such as monitoring the irrigators upstream, individuals making various calls to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, as well as farmers' attempts to conserve the river for farm use within their land (Hamilton). Unfortunately even with attempts of conserving as much water from this river as possible, it took a third place rank on the endangered rivers list to raise enough awareness about this issue. However it may be too late to do much about this environmental issue now, as "residents there view the prospect of a water-master as an unnecessary and intrusive burden" (Hamilton). A water-master would not harm or make anything of this matter worse, however only has potential to help as it is a way of monitoring stream flows and water use. With this statement it seems as though the citizens that interact with this river are too pessimistic to even give an effort of conserving water from this endangered river (Hamilton). .
This article mentions that "the San Saba presents itself as a classic tragedy of the commons" which could not be more true (Hamilton).
