By: Kelly Eisenbarger, Kelly Fine, Reihaneh Hajibeigi and Shawna Reding

Through droughts and flooding, Mother Nature has had her share of fun with Austin over the past months. Although Lake Travis water levels are on the rise with recent rains, the drought that has claimed plenty of businesses, affected Austin farming and lowered property values all around still keeps the city from staying afloat.

The Lower Colorado River Authority‘s worries have only increased since the drought began taking a serious impact on the region three years ago, and according to Public Information Officer Clara Tuma, the recent rains haven’t changed the unfortunate situation much.

“Don’t be fooled by the green lawns in Austin, the drought continues,” Tuma said. “This isn’t the worst we have seen, but without more rain, it could very well become the worst.”

LCRA Map of Highland Lakes

The rain came in downstream of the Highland Lakes and made its way to the Colorado River, which flows down to Matagorda Bay and on to the Gulf of Mexico. However, the rain did not fall upstream enough to reach the Central Texas reservoirs of Lakes Travis and Buchanan.

“A variety of people depend on the lakes,” Tuma said. “More than one million people depend on the lakes for drinking water, which is essential for life, but there’s also industry power plants that depend on the lakes to make electricity to cool our homes and keep hospitals running.”

At the November board meeting, the LCRA requested the state to approve emergency plans to stop sending water downstream to rice farmers in the coming year if reservoir lakes are less than 55 percent capacity by the beginning of March. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, LCRA’s regulator which approves how water from Lake Travis and Buchannan is used, will meet in December to make a final decision on the future of water distribution.

However, recent rains, totaling 13.28 inches, have provided some aid to local farmers.

Robert Mace, who serves as the deputy executive administrator of water science and conservation at TCEQ, said as bad as it has gotten, having experienced a situation even worse has allowed authorities to have a better understanding of their options.

“What Texas learned from the 1950s drought was that we don’t have enough water to meet the needs,” Mace said. “To tell you how bad it was, they restricted irrigating on the football field for the cotton bowl. You know things are bad when Texans aren’t watering the football field.”

Perhaps the drought hasn’t limited watering the football fields yet, but lakeside restaurants like Carlos’ N Charlie’s and The Oasis have felt the impact on their businesses. Although The Oasis has been able to stay open, unlike fellow iconic restaurant Carlos’ N Charlie’s, its biggest attraction, the view, has been dwindling.

“Lake level has affected restaurants in the lake area, most restaurants are going to be down a significant percentage higher than we are,” Assistant manager Jacob Silva said. “You can definitely see an impact in foot traffic here, but we are hanging tough because of our 30 year reputation.”

Over time The Oasis was even able to see the drought as a marketing tool with its “Come see the new island at Lake Travis!” advertisements.

Rick Redmond, owner and CEO of Volente Beach, said he believes their location at the deepest part of the lake has helped keep their business up. People were able to physically get to their “boutique water park” over other businesses.

“What we started realizing was that a lot of our competition was closing,” Redmond said. “Since there are fewer places to go, and we’ve stayed open, customers have been coming to us.”

While revenue from businesses and some rainfall are keeping business and agriculture alive, property values and low-lake levels have been driving more residents to put their “For Sale” signs up.

Trudi Smith, who owned a home by the lake for four years, said there were many reasons as to why she moved away from the lake, but the final push to move was due to the lack of incentive to stay lakeside.

“It wasn’t the pleasure it used to be,” Smith said. “You couldn’t get on the water. A lot of people I met ended up moving away, and after a while, there is simply no benefit to living by the lake with water levels so low.”

While Smith said she believes it is just a course of nature, and eventually the water will come up, the TCEQ has been urging people to continue to conserve water in any way possible. Tuma and the LCRA echo Redman’s sentiments, and said little things such as low-flow shower heads and toilets can save a few gallons at home but thousands if the whole community participates.

“Each one of us can conserve water, just as much as the city or industry or even farmer can,” Mace said. “Every little bit helps.”

The following drought monitor is continuously updated to reflect the drought’s current status.

Am I qualified to speak on behalf of my entire generation? Probably not. Am I going to? Yes, obviously. Is that a little ironic? Yes, obviously.

Dear GenX,

First of all, thanks for the fine advice about not bringing our parents on job interviews, being less entitled as managers, and trying to avoid the narcissistic personality disorder that we probably already suffer from/inflict on our elders. Really, your words do not fall on deaf ears. Pierced ears, maybe. Headphoned-ears, definitely. Deaf-er, but not deaf. We really do appreciate your feedback.

But, like any good blogger, I have some feedback of my own, in regards to Huffington Post's recent article "Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy," specifically.

The article introduces Lucy, the impressionable if not a little naive GenY that just wants a really high paying job that fulfills her creatively and challenges her intellectually. We all know Lucy. We all are Lucy, a little bit. That's just a fact. As a side note, I think I once drew this exact stick figure. It won all sorts of awards, and I received no less than 3 trophies and 350 compliments. That will be relevant later. (Spoiler!)

2013-09-15-Geny1

The article outlines three major factors as to why Lucy is unhappy. How did the author, one of your GenX comrades, know Lucy was unhappy? Because the author decided it, that's how. Besides, isn't everyone a little unhappy? Be honest. We're all a little unhappy. Lucy's unhappiness is just much stronger and sadder and in more desperate need of attention than everyone else's unhappiness, and, thankfully, the author steps right in to help. And by help, I mean invent three arbitrary "facts" based on personal experience that explain why Lucy is unhappy and, furthermore, why GenYs like Lucy will never really overcome that unhappiness.

As a Millennial aka GenY aka "Gen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies" aka "GYPSY," I take issue with these facts. Sure, my rebuttal is based on personal experience, but I'm a Millennial, so what the hell do I even know about researching and follow-through?

1. "GYPSYs are wildly ambitious. The GYPSY needs a lot more from a career than a nice green lawn of prosperity and security. The fact is, a green lawn isn't quite exceptional or unique enough for a GYPSY. Where the Baby Boomers wanted to live The American Dream, GYPSYs want to live Their Own Personal Dream."

First of all, there is nothing wrong with ambition. The baby boomers that raised us didn't get to where they are without ambition, and the GenXs that followed didn't either. Cal Newport, a fellow Millennial, pointed out that Google's Ngram data shows the phrase "follow your passion" didn't really emerge in English literature before the last 20 years. I respect Newport's research, and I respect his article "Solving Gen Y's Passion Problem." Way to represent us in the Harvard Business Review, Cal. Seriously, good work. Mucho respect, loved the article, etc.

passion_pic_newport-thumb-580x214-2312

Now back to the point. Yes, I'm interested in finding a career that fulfills me. But I'm also interested in paying my bills because I'm really, exceptionally uninterested in being homeless. Those don't need to be mutually exclusive. Just because I want to like my job doesn't mean I've completely forgotten about financial security. I grew up just outside of one of the wealthiest cities in the United States, and because of that, a lot of my best friends have never needed to worry about being financially independent. But despite that luxury, I can't think of a single person that actually thinks the high-paid, fulfilling job of their dreams exists without a lot of hard work and experience. Sure, we want to have it all. Why wouldn't we? But are we the first ever generation to want it all? No, of course we aren't. We're just as willing to work to achieve our high-expectations as the last generation and the generation before that.

2. "GYPSYs are delusional. On top of the generation as a whole having the bold goal of a flowery career lawn, each individual GYPSY thinks that he or she is destined for something even better-- A shiny unicorn on top of the flowery lawn."

If you recall, I made a hilarious joke earlier about how my stick figure won all sorts of awards. Get it now? I'm a riot. I'm also markedly not special. Everything I pride myself on is completely subjective, and I learned that in 9th grade when I didn't make the all-state choir. I learned that again when I never once ran varsity on my high school cross country team, again when I got my first college rejection letter, and yet again when I started applying for internships and jobs. There will always be at least 10 people better than me, so I better make damn sure that there aren't 10 people that work harder than me.

Furthermore, I refuse to believe that entitled, lazy, "special" job candidates are unique to my generation. Maybe the author of this article hasn't been 21 in a while, but naivety is basically a requirement. If my generation has a hard time accepting negative feedback, it's because we're only twenty one years old, and we haven't actually had to accept all that much of it yet. We will learn to accept feedback as we work, just like everyone before us. Additionally, the author makes it sounds like GenYs invented career disappointment, and not a single GenX or Boomer ever once felt they deserved an interview, job, or promotion and the disappointment that comes when it isn't actualized.

3. "GYPSYs are taunted. Social media creates a world for Lucy where A) what everyone else is doing is very out in the open, B) most people present an inflated version of their own existence, and C) the people who chime in the most about their careers are usually those whose careers (or relationships) are going the best, while struggling people tend not to broadcast their situation."

If the author got legitimate information from legitimate GenYs that legitimately think everything reflected on social media is true, then I take it all back. I have a Facebook friend that constantly posts about his booming new-age photography/music business and says "namaste" a lot. That doesn't mean I think he's a Brahman.  We grew up on the internet. We know it isn't real life. And honestly, I really hope his chakras are as aligned as he says-- but I'm not about to lose sleep over the misaligned state of my own chakras. GenY didn't invent jealously, we just digitized it.

GenX, I mean it when I say that I appreciate your concern for my well-being. You know more than me because you've been around longer than me and you probably spend less time on Reddit. But I'd just like to clarify just one single but frustrating thing: Yeah, there are members of my generation that are selfish, entitled and whiny. A lot of people my age think they hung the moon. But there are members of your own generation that are selfish, entitled and whiny that also think they hung the moon. There are kids 20 years older than you that think they hung the stars and people 20 years older than them that think they invented the whole goddamn solar system.

Give us a little while to finish growing up before you condemn us to a life of artistic poverty. You were all here, at some point.

Sincerely,

Kelly Fine

GenY

TL;DR: We're growing up. Everyone has to grow up.