Lance Armstrong Loves Water

Bicycling sensation, cancer survivor and advocate, notorious ladee luver and Matthew McConoughhey BFF Lance Armstrong recently moved into an 8,000 square foot newly built Spanish colonial style house outside of Austin, TX where he lives with surrounds by lots of ebonized wood, leather floors, contemporary art and, somewhat surprisingly, a lot of pinky-mauve color accents.

Outdoor amenities include sky high cypress trees framing long allées, covered patios to escape from the scorching Texas sunshine, a heated swimming pool with an adjacent cabana and acres of of exuberantly green and rolling lawns that surely helped to give Mister Armstrong the recent and dubious distinction of being the largest private residential water user in the city of Austin.

According to an article in the Austin American-Statesman, Mister Armstrong's 3-acre estate used 222,900 gallons of water in the month of June, which is about 26 times the amount the average Austin household uses in a single month. Using our bejeweled abacus to run those numbers another way, Your Mama figures that in just one single month Mister Armstrong used more than twice the amount of water a typical house in Austin uses in an entire year. An entire damn year!

Mister Austin's water bill for the month of June, according to the Austin Water Utility, was a high and hefty $1,612 and twenty three cents. That may be pennies and pocket change to a man as wealthy as Mister Armstrong, but it's probably more than the average American takes home in a single month.

To his credit, upon learning of his water wasting, Mister Armstrong was conciliatory and declared that he has, "no interest in being the top water user in Austin, Texas" and vowed to fix the problem. Your Mama hopes in our water conserving heart that the hot bodied pedal pumper is trucking in some giant rain water collection devices and learning to live with a lawn that's a little less green.

According to a recent article in the always glittering, glowing and fawning Architectural Digest (that is loaded with juicy photos), Mister Armstrong also has homes in Spain, New York, a Texas ranch and a Bahamian hideaway.

Photo: Jay Janner for Austin American-Statesman