Water is one of those things you take for granted, right up until you don’t have any it anymore. Anyone who’s been stuck in a shower that’s gone cold knows the feeling. But for many residents in rural Texas, it’s not about having hot water– it’s about not having any water at all. Much of Texas is under a severe drought. That drought has already hit farmers and ranchers hard. Now rural wells are running dry, forcing homeowners to haul in their own water or hire someone to do it for them. We stopped at a water supply company in Dripping Springs, Texas. Trucks were waiting three deep to get a shot at the spigot. We met Darryll Coe who lives in Dripping Springs and has four acres. He has to come to the water supply twice a week so his family and horses have enough water. Coe, like all the customers here, pays $8 for a thousand gallons. The price is right but it’s clearly a big hassle.

Although Mother Nature is causing the drought, some say people living in the area aren’t helping. Doug Cones with the Dripping Springs Water Supply Corporation says there have been worse droughts here before, but now many more people are relying on the area’s water. More and more people have moved in and drilled rural wells in the Hill Country near Austin. Cones also says most people don’t do much to conserve water either– that is, until they have a problem getting it.

From Dripping Springs, we went to Lake Travis, which is also outside of Austin. What an incredible sight that is. It looks like a big bathtub that’s draining. And it is, to the tune of about a foot each week. Lake Travis is at 40% of its capacity now, which is dangerously low. The city of Austin depends on the lake for its water.

We came down to the Briarcliff Marina. It looks like it’s sitting at the bottom of a canyon, not a secluded cove on Lake Travis. Expensive homes line the top of the shores of the cove. They have staircases that lead down to dry land and marooned boats. And this is just one cove. There are dozens and dozens just like it all along Lake Travis. All of the lake’s 12 public boat ramps are closed. Here at Briarcliff, the boat ramp drops off into nothingness, just a sheer deep dusty drop into a ditch below.

The last time the lake actually increased its water level substantially was in 2007. That’s when there was big flooding in the region. Unfortunately, experts say that’s what it will take to change the tide this time too.