It’s really cool to be alive in America at this point in history because it’s like the collapse of the Roman Empire but with Wi-Fi.” – Billy Addington, Exec. Dir., Founder, Save Sierra Blanca (Texas) Foundation A Gun Story
No one loves Las Cruces more than I. Come for the green chile, stay for the politics. But with that said, please don’t encourage Texans to move there. They exist in a permanent state of denial over impending water supply shortages, as residents wait for releases from Elephant Butte Reservoir down the course of the Rio Once-Grande and pecan growers engage in the irrigation practice known as “flooding,” and excuse it as that’s-what-we’ve-always done. El Paso claims almost half of its annual water supply from those same flows, so all of the water in that reservoir—currently sitting at 12.2% full—won’t be exclusive to Las Cruces. It’s a situation that will only worsen as temperatures continue to climb. And they have been doing exactly that.
So, while I know that the siren song of Las Cruces is very enticing, a dose of climate realism has to be injected here. And perhaps a dose of real estate realism, too, because prices there have risen sharply in the last few months and houses are snapped up quickly unless they have serious flaws.
There still exist many small towns in Texas with real estate bargains. And most of them have water, for today and tomorrow.
No one loves Las Cruces more than I. Come for the green chile, stay for the politics. But with that said, please don’t encourage Texans to move there. They exist in a permanent state of denial over impending water supply shortages, as residents wait for releases from Elephant Butte Reservoir down the course of the Rio Once-Grande and pecan growers engage in the irrigation practice known as “flooding,” and excuse it as that’s-what-we’ve-always done. El Paso claims almost half of its annual water supply from those same flows, so all of the water in that reservoir—currently sitting at 12.2% full—won’t be exclusive to Las Cruces. It’s a situation that will only worsen as temperatures continue to climb. And they have been doing exactly that.
So, while I know that the siren song of Las Cruces is very enticing, a dose of climate realism has to be injected here. And perhaps a dose of real estate realism, too, because prices there have risen sharply in the last few months and houses are snapped up quickly unless they have serious flaws.
There still exist many small towns in Texas with real estate bargains. And most of them have water, for today and tomorrow.