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cynthianovak

Is Texas running out of water?

cynthianovak
11 years ago

Hi All
I received this and wonder if it is true. 20 years ago I lived in Austin and there was plenty of talk about the aquifer and the rivers. But this gives 180 days. Do any of you know about this? Is this a scare tactic to get attention?

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas running out of water

Comments (31)

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    11 years ago

    Who knows? They have tendency to over hype it...

    There are several factors such as PDO flipping cold (meaning fewer and short lasting El Nino and more and long lasting La Nina for the next 10-20 years). Not exactly a good news for Texas.

    There's always the wild card - tropical system that would give us a lot of rainfall.

    On the other hand, all the extra CO2 is helpful for plants because they would not need as much water. ;-)

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    11 years ago

    Due to the dramatic changes in weather patterns due to global warming and the ever increasing population to feed it's predicted that fresh water will become more and more scarce world wide in the next few years. As for Texas there already were a few small towns that had to have water trucked in the last couple of years.. Could anybody find which Texas communities were in danger of running out of water in the next few months on the links above? Anyway it benefits us all to conserve water as much as possible.

    This post was edited by roselee on Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 15:31

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    11 years ago

    Preaching to myself here ... :-)

  • southofsa
    11 years ago

    I can't speak to the letter. It does seem a little alarmist in tone, but the water situation in parts of Texas IMO is critical.

    My water is through BMA (Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Water Supply). They sent a letter last November I think it was. Because Medina Lake was crticially low (I think it was at the 10% level but don't have the letter in front of me to verify) they would not be able to fill any water orders for BMA customers. These orders fill the tanks around here to water the livestock. The tank in the pasture next to mine is already dry. Mine is lower than I've ever seen it. I don't know what the farmers and ranchers in this area are going to do since a dry summer is predicted.

    That fits my definition of Texas running out of water, but maybe not everyone's.

    Lisa

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    11 years ago

    Roselee, there's no such thing as global warming. It always goes cold and hot and repeat. It looks like we haven't warmed up for at least 17 years. It remained flat. It is possible that we might have peaked and start to cool off soon. I have spent several years reading everything over it.

    Warm period = good.
    Cool period = bad.

    That's how I view it.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Temperatures were warmer than today for most of the past 10,000 years

  • carrie751
    11 years ago

    I agree with Lou.............there are places in the world that are actually colder than they have been in decades. Also, there have always been changes in the climate........I am old enough to have lived through a few of them. This is not something that is controlled by man.

  • phoenix7801
    11 years ago

    Perhaps Carrie and Lou but if its super cold somewhere, its super hot somewhere else. Mother Nature seeks a balance. But to come back to the topic at hand no one really knows how deep the aquifer goes. Only how low it has gotten before. Real easy way to solve this problem is to have stage 2 restrictions even if the Edwards is above 660. No irrigation except on your scheduled day and especially no irrigation on days that it has rained. You'd still be allowed to hand water. All car washes must reclaim their water.

  • texasflip
    11 years ago

    Regardless of global warming, our water resources are stretched thin and not getting larger, yet our population continues to explode with no sign of stopping. Doesn't take a genius to see that can't go on forever. Something's gotta give....

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    Yes extended la Nina are a sign of cooling. Not for Texas but for most. I think we have more to worry about carbon escaping our soils due to desertification which is a real problem. I am not sure how much a problem increased carbon in the atmosphere is . I am still a believer that the sun and moon are a a bigger player in our weather. We are headed into a area of the solar system that will increase cosmic rays and that will increase cloud cover and that means cooling. The "warmist" alarmist seem to always be changing their story but I have to hand it to them , they sure do have the powers that be lining up behind ready to gear up a new tax and a new globalist power system. They do not want you talking about things like the Barycentric Wobble that has caused cooling in 200 year cycles and we are in the beginning of that now to. Increased La ninas for 35 years... BUmmer. Less water.

    Back to the subject of desertification and a possible solution,Check out this guy AllanSavory, on this vimeo from a "Ted " talk. He started Holistic Land Management which is very interesting. I have been to a couple of seminars when I used to have cows. Now, I buy beef from a panhandle rancher that uses this system to a great effect on his land.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Allan Savory and Holistic Land management.

  • bostedo: 8a tx-bp-dfw
    11 years ago

    Helps to also think of this as "growing out of water". Solutions may be complex, but the problem is simply that there will not be enough water from existing sources at current per capita usage levels if the expected population growth occurs... with some areas of the state (already) hurting much worse than others. Potential of extended drought exacerbates the risk. The TWDB and most large cities/counties have published a lot of info on this.

    My guess that the urgency in the ETRPC letter is to motivate support for getting wildlife and recreational needs better represented in the TWDB plan... not personally fond of the sell, but the idea is certainly worth considering. Would not be surprised to find these dwarfed by concerns for residential, industrial, and agricultural requirements. To quote the TWDB:

    The primary message of the 2012 State Water Plan is a simple one: In serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, its businesses, and its agricultural enterprises.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Texas State Water Plan(s)

    This post was edited by bostedo on Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 23:46

  • phoenix7801
    11 years ago

    Even if you could prove either side empirically, there's still the case of pollution. Recently Beijing had its worst air quality report ever. Period. You can cut the air with a knife its so bad. In San Antonio its not that bad and I'm kinda proud that we've put in place several biking initiatives.

  • cynthianovak
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Y'all make this fascinating reading. thank you c

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    I totally agree about the pollution. I am afraid that all this attention towards Carbon is having ranchers put out of business because of animal caused methane (Australia) while mercury is being dumped in our streams. We prioritize Carbon pollution when everything is made of carbon. Our breathing is the original sin. Real provable pollution is being overlooked. The fact that lumber cutters are now trying to say that cut down trees capture carbon so they should get carbon credits for the wood they chop down. The world has gone crazy!

    Meanwhile I just had an email where the their is a effort from a waterboard here in Central Texas to get rice farmers to sell rice farming rights just like ranchers are selling development rights on their land instead of building more aquifers in Wharton county.. something is screwwy in the land of OZ. It really is the war of resorces. The urban/suburban upstream populations against the downstream farmers saying their recreation and green lawns are more important than the rice farmers. Makes my head spin.

    I live without watering any lawn. I have a few potted plants that I water and My vegetable garden will be going to dust soon. I live off the water that falls on my roof. Right now my 20K gallon tanks are almosst full because of the rain that came through. I am still not going to start a spring garden cause I smell a worsening drought coming on. I hope I am wrong.

  • phoenix7801
    11 years ago

    I know most folks want alot of pretty flowers and nice green grass but it would help alot if people also looked into xeriscaping. Would anybody say no to a mountain laurel and its grape koolaid smell? How about the way a cenizo covers itself in blooms when it rains? Heck a Santa Rita prickly pear turns a lovely shade of violet in the winter.

  • linda_tx8
    11 years ago

    There's two articles today in the San Antonio newspaper about drought and the scarcity of water supplies in two areas of Texas. Running out of adequate supplies of water is only a matter of time in most of the state as increased population equals more demand and droughts mean less supply. I've seen what it does to the land, the plants and animals when one year of severe drought is just followed by more years of the same. Sure, from time to time there's enough rainfall for a period of time...then it's barely any again. Someone mentioned Medina Lake, which is now at 7.4% of capacity. And yet, the last I heard, the city of San Antonio was still pumping water out of that puddle near the dam.

  • texasflip
    11 years ago

    What'll be interesting to witness is how the Texas panhandle/western Great Plains ground water situation plays out. All the farms in that region tap the Ogallala aquifer which essentially does not recharge (there is some local recharge). It's levels continue to drop fast and water wells have to be dug deeper ever year, which means water becomes more and more expensive to pump up out of the ground. Theoretically, the cost will become too great to make farming profitable.... Thank goodness we have plants adapted for that environment which do not depend on irrigation (like buffalo grass for instance). Maybe it will all turn to ranches....

  • jardineratx
    11 years ago

    There have been many articles during the last decades trying to inform and alert people of the slow, but steady, diminishing of water sources in Texas. With the combination of drought years and increasing population, and the very dramatic increase in residential and commercial water use, it should be no surprise that we arel experiencing diminished water supply in many areas. Recyling of products has become popular, but little thought has been given to water conservation by the majority. We simply cannot have lush lawns, pools, and extravagant use of water without consequences. Modern lifestyles are very, very different in terms of water use than they were in the past and I believe that has aggravated the problem.
    Molly

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    When I moved to Austin in "70 many people did not water their lawns. Things were pretty brown in many areas of town come August. Outside of Austin where I live now, water is so scares and expensive , even with developments that are on water systems. The systems are not dependable. But there are other areas where the sence of entitlement is amazing. Rich people in town where there is water rationing are now sinking wells to water as they wish. Money makes you above the societal rules. Ground water has no rules. Biggest straw wins till there is no more to suck. Them's the rules.

  • mistiaggie
    11 years ago

    I'm hoping in the coming years other farming alternatives will start taking more hold such as farming for localities instead of trying to feed the entire country or the world. Perhaps some of those commodities will always be around, but in the long term it isn't sustainable for everything to be grown the way it is grown now.

    I'd love to live in the Hill Country but sometimes I think about it and just know that I'd be one more person on a very tight water supply out there. Part of the problem is also the horrible western water rights laws that are outdated and need to be amended for current water usage.

  • bostedo: 8a tx-bp-dfw
    11 years ago

    Check the articles on what has been done in Las Vegas for an idea of where we may eventually be headed. Many Texas cities have already been spending quite a bit per residence to subsidize high efficiency (Las Vegas has made significant progress in this segment by banning [non-native] lawns in new construction and paying folks $1.50/sq ft to remove existing ones. I'm guessing we're within a decade or so of similar programs/ordinances in Texas.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Vegas tries to kick its water addiction (CNN)

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    A slution for a lot of these rural areas is Rain water and a large roof. New Mexico it ismandated that every new building should have some kind of rain water storage. It might not be every thing that a household uses but it does relieve the ground water sources. In teaxas a normal size house and a garage will give enough . Enlarge a garage into a roofed patio and now we are talking. I think that centralized Municipal authorities are just that Centralized and it is very hard to think decentralizing the problem or part of the problem is the solution. Rain water is expensive up front but so is re drilling wells time and time again. Mexico city is getting into the rain water act .

  • tx_ag_95
    11 years ago

    Bostedo's probably right. NTX is past time for people to start implementing yards filled with native/adapted plants. I was born and raised in San Antonio, so when I bought my house I started moving the yard away from the "huge grass covered lawn" and towards something that would survive on what water Mother Nature provided and what I needed to supplement, via the sprinkler system, to keep the oak & pecan trees alive. Not surprisingly, the back yard's got a lot of bare spots. The grass in the front yard is watered by my neighbor's sprinkler system, the rest is xeriscaped.

    I keep telling people that I'd rather be able to drink and/or shower with the water than have the pretty green grass lawn that people on the coasts have, but most of them aren't listening. They think they're still on the coast with unlimited water.

  • bgp_123
    11 years ago

    San Angelo has between 12-18 months of water on hand and the prospects of getting much rain this spring and summer are dismal !!!

  • linda_tx8
    11 years ago

    Even areas of the coast can have drought problems. Just look at the drought map for Texas!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Drought Monitor map

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    I have been looking at that also. Really all I have to do is walk outside. No spring flowers again. No nodding onions, few wind flowers, few 4 nerve daisies. AND now the unwatered wild live oaks are turning orange and loosing their leaves. Usually they are getting new leaves at the same time they are droping leaves and stay green. One hardly notices the thinning of the crown. I am not seeing many leaves being formed. This is their behavior in drought. They form few leaves and our shade is a lot brighter. More evaporation from the land.

  • Christian
    11 years ago

    I think the problem is that water is too cheap... way too cheap, and the water utilities should raise the price of water to encourage more conservation.
    Here in the DFW metroplex, often I see sprinklers watering the streets, sprinkling right after or even during rain, and broken sprinkler heads dumping tons of water on the street. My street storm drain is almost constantly wet during the summer because of the run-off of sprinklers... what a waste.

    I think what they should do it the following: every month look at your water usage, and

    - from 0 to 500 Gallons - normal rate
    - from 500 to 1000 Gallons - charge those at 2x rate
    - from 1000 to 5000 Gallons - 5x rate
    - 5000 and up: 10x

    I bet if you hit people in the wallet, that will cure the problem.

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    500 gal. is a very small amount of water for a month considering that a non watering normal family uses about 75 gallons a day. I used when curtailing during the drought and trucking in hugely expensive water, about 2000 gal. a month. But I think a graduated price is a good idea. Water is expensive in the hll country west of Austin. . I think one pays aver $100 just for the base rate and then a per gallon price over that. I would not call water cheep out here, and , guess what, You see a lot of dry lawns. The guys on well water don't water because theuyare always flirting with going dry. That guys on rainwater don't water either. Dry yards are the norm.

  • kentuck_8b
    11 years ago

    I have one neighbour, out in the country, that built a small lake on top of a hill. First of all, what kind of thinking is that? Lakes, ponds, tanks, or whatever you want to call them, are built where runoff water will fill them, but what about on top of a hill?

    The city people keep moving out here to the country, which I have no problem with normally, then spend literally millions on fixing up a showplace complete with lights that stay on all night making their place look like an airport...ok, I'm getting sidetracked.

    Anyway, they fill the lake with underground wellwater. They come out maybe once a month, but they have to have a full lake to fish in or to just look at. In the recent past drought years, everyone else around them had their stocktanks run dry or get so low that it was undrinkable for livestock, and several wells in the area went completely dry. There are three levels of water here and anyone with a well the same level as the city folks, either lost their wells or had well problems.

    Does this make sense? Why ruin it for those that need it just so your place looks pretty. Does anyone think anymore?

    I know of seven places that use wellwater for ponds, all are people who came from the city, and only two are places where the owners live there full time.

    I know, I sound like I'm against city folks moving out to the country, but I'm not, I'm just stating that people need to consider other peoples needs and use a little common sense.

    Talk about more money than brains. Absolutely no consideration for anyone else.

    Kt

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    He with the biggest straw wins is the number one rule in Texas water law. We had a developer come in and build 2 5 acre lakes on top of a hill and a community of 300 homes went dry one summer . We were screaming and got him to cease for a little while with a huge dose of shaming and recrimination. The developers got a pipeline to ship in water from lake travis and the rights to ground water. I think he is only filling one lake half full. Consideration and conservation of anything but personal capital is not in their lexicon. I think the dry neighborhood should invade their neighborhood and wash their clothes in their lake and tee tee in the clubhouse in mass as a protest. Lets not forget to bring our water jugs to fill. The water pipeline was okeid by LCRA because it would relieve the water table of water removing ussage by the development. what a crock.

  • aslan89
    11 years ago

    This is the most depressing thread I have ever read on Gardenweb.com lol

    I just don't see an end to this drought in the foreseeable future. I live in deep south Texas, We are currently in level D3 with the rest of the valley at D4 level drought. D4 is when water restrictions kick in for everyone, not just agriculture. We were almost to the point of praying for a tropical system last season but they can be so destructive it's really not worth it unless you can sneak by with just a tropical storm.

    I honestly don't see any changes coming soon though. Even with a big rain producer like a tropical system will only hide the problem for a couple months. You need consistent rainfall throughout the year for good vegetative growth. It's only March and we already have 90 degree weather in our forecast for next week... This summer is going to be awful.

  • kentuck_8b
    11 years ago

    LCRA is bragging how full the Fayette Lake is yet the Colorado River from which they get their water, is a slimy moss-filled stagnant mess.

    They won't even give water to farmers in lower counties. Farmers NEED water, and have depended on it for years to come from the river, but LCRA advertises their lake as full and an excellent place to come fish and enjoy the water. Other lakes are very low, but not Fayette Lake.

    Another case of give me your land or we'll take it, then build a lake and take the water needed for the livlihood of many others, and fill a lake and brag on it.

    Conservation has to start with those who have the money and power to take from those who don't. There may not be laws to stop this, yet, but if they were decent people and legit, they would take into consideration those who depend on water, yet do not waste water.

    Kt