Got a question about the suburban community lakes. One day they are digging and the next time I look, they have water. How do they do it?
Water wells! Lots of water wells!
Most urban community lakes serve multiple functions: storm-water detention (mandated), commons-area irrigation-water storage (necessary), aesthetics (it's there, might as well).
Due to so-called subsidence issues (in Harris and adjacent counties in SE TX) and the resulting legislated progressive-transition from ground-water to surface-water sources, the cost to pump well-water into these urban lakes is going ballistic. And don't dare bust your "permitted" (pre-purchased) annual estimated gallonage. Any excess pumpage = 3x the permitted price per 1k gal + penalty.
Early-alerted investors in the scheme (who purchased permit-credits, aka "rights to pump") are making a killing. I predict the same scenario behind the "carbon-credit" scheme.