Throckmorton, Texas, still dry but proud of new pipeline.(The Dallas Morning News)

THROCKMORTON, Texas _ Another perilously dry summer, and water in the city pool is still too low to dive into. Just like last year.

Unlike last year, folks here might be prone to call it half full, rather than half empty.

This town's water supply came close to running dry in the parched summer of 2000, as Lake Throckmorton slowly disappeared during the months-long drought.

A dramatic, largely volunteer effort to build a 15-mile pipeline to an alternate water supply staved off calamity. The pipeline remains, but the panic is gone in the town of about 900.

"The thing that's changed the most has been the attitudes," said Tresa Hargrove, manager of the city pool, which is filled only partially as a conservation measure. As a result, a belly-flop is the safest ...