The town of Dripping Springs, Texas, is not living up to its name. In the last five years Dripping Springs, along with most of Texas, has been experiencing its worst drought in decades. But inside Dripping Springs lies an oasis of water — 250,000 gallons of it to be exact.
The area is called Tank Town. Twenty years ago Richard Heinichen grew sick of the water he was getting from his well. “I took my first shower, and I almost threw up because of the sulfur smell,” he says. He built a system in his backyard to collect, store and pump rainwater through his house.
Since that fateful shower, Heinichen has installed about 1,300 tanks, including 16 on his own property. He collects so much water, in fact, that he now bottles and sells his own Cloud Juice. People around the country — many of whom have to contend with the effects of drought — are turning to Tank Town to find solutions to their water woes.