Artificial Waterfalls

In the Prairies and Lakes area of Texas the landscape is flat and houses seem like outcrops. The landscape is quite boring so what do builders do, they create artificial landscaping. If you want a hill they will go and dig up some dirt from somewhere and pile it up to create one. If you want a waterfall they can do that too. I recently saw one such feature at a premium residential neighborhood where they have created an artificial river and a waterfall, here are some pictures:

River View @ Grand Canyon's South Rim

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Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

This is perhaps the most fascinating view of the Grand Canyon that I got to see. I shot this picture at the far end of the South Rim of the canyon near the "Native American" Watch tower and other monuments. The unique feature of this view is that the can yon can be seen in its full glory. Not only can one see both the rims but one can also see its depths where the Colorado river swirls along.
Taking in this view I wish I could just jump into the Colorado river for a refreshing swim to escape the desert heat of Arizona. The azure waters of Colorado are definitely inviting.

Efficient Resource Management

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Originally uploaded by srinidhilv.

One of the things I like about the US is the way they manage their natural resources. Take for example rivers, streams, creeks, brooks, lakes and other water bodies. I have traveled to several different cities, both large and small across the US and no where have I seen a water body being killed to make way for commercial or residential development. Town planners always leave certain amount of space around the water body so that the natural elements are not hindered and earth retains at least some of its moisture and ground water content.

Take for example this river which flows right by Downtown Houston. If it were elsewhere it would have probably been closed down and buildings built atop its dried up bed. Or perhaps they would have used this as a natural sewage line and emptied untreated domestic sewage into the water body thus killing it slowly.

But in the US most water bodies are usually left alone and development takes place along side. Of course the river does get polluted, but not as polluted as it would get if wastes were directly emptied into them.

I think back home in India town planners need to realize this and learn to conserve resources so the future generations can have water, the elixir of life.