Water.

Around here, it should always be spelled with a capital W. And pronounced that way, too, reverently.

Nobody appreciates the importance of water more than those who don't have it.

Well, that used to be a truism, but lately, I've been having my doubts.

I'm having trouble understanding the rationale of "the well is running dry, we better drill more wells and put in more pivots so we can pour it out on worthless crops like cotton."

I'm seeing it happen all around me. Wells are running dry. Even house wells. One home right up the road ran out of water and only found more on the very edge of their property. But still, several more pivots went up this year, several more wells were drilled to feed the same pivot. Guys are cutting back to half circles. The list goes on.

I just can't see how that works out, except badly for all concerned.

Sure, there's talk of conservation, and water meters, and blahblahblah, but there's got to be water for meters to measure in the first place, and by the time anybody does anything positive, there won't be any water to meter anymore.

I sure hope the dryland cotton varieties make some serious progress and soon, so we can take some pressure off our treasure. Or develop a market for high-dollar crops that would make better use of available water.

 Anybody else as worried as I am?