About a year ago I moved back to my hometown, the dry beautiful El Paso desert. Before that, I lived in places surrounded by water like San Diego, Seattle, and San Antonio for over 20 years. At first, I enjoyed the dry heat, but soon found myself wanting to be surrounded by water. I think it’s the Pisces in me.
Ascarate Lake became a good choice for daily walks/jogs for a while. Soon, I wanted to find out about other similar lakes in El Paso area. So on a summer night when I couldn’t sleep, a quick google search led me to an interesting short video where a young man explained that El Paso has a little hidden lake in the West side referred to as Portland Cement Reservoir. Apparently, some people actually fish there!
So, the next day, I took a drive to the location. This lake is by a construction site, accessible only by a dirt road, but you can find it with GPS. It is surrounded by trash, but also by sweet smelling vegetation. I actually saw fish jumping out of the water while I admired this little emerald gem of freshness in the middle of the desert.
Besides the short online video, a couple of comments about it on Facebook and a blog, I was amazed that there wasn’t much to find out about this body of water. I was intrigued. Where did it come from? What's the water quality? Why does it appear to have a little thriving ecosystem? Who owns it? Without any visible signs, was I unknowingly trespassing? Why don’t many local people know about it?
It dawned on me that researching and preserving this little lake could be an opportunity to make El Paso GREEN! So on this morning, after a sleepless night, my little trip in search of water became my HOPE and inspiration to beautify our city. As I stood by the lake, I began to imagine it surrounded by a walking trail, mature trees, park benches, succulent plants and the sounds of birds… a nice little treasure of water to feed our souls and cool us down when the desert heat is a little too much. Now, wouldn’t this be a great park PROJECT for our city to enjoy? How can you help us make it happen? I welcome any comments or information
