Texas Drought Visible in New National Groundwater Maps

Texas Drought Visible in New National Groundwater Maps

www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2011) — The record-breaking drought in Texas that has fueled wildfires, decimated crops and forced cattle sales has also reduced levels of groundwater in much of the state to the lowest levels seen in more than 60 years, according to new national maps produced by NASA and distributed by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It appears that if these maps were more widely used and the information more prominently displayed, many people could actually participate in helping the communities they live in by recognizing the nature of their water-distribution problems.



I now most people wouldn't pay it much attention (over say the tragedy of besmirching professional sports with the repugnant behavior of millionaires)... but if people were taught such things in school... perhaps people could actually make a difference....

At any rate the technology is very impressive....

www.sciencedaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I wonder If Mr. Pinkerton buying up land rights for the underground aquifers and draining them dry has anything to add to the current situation.

At least I think it is Pinkerton doing so, could be mistaken. Cause we all know...if you can drill to it on you're land, you can suck it out of your neighbors.

I live in central Texas, and it is very, very bad. We've had severe water restrictions, and yet I still see some people watering their lawns late at night so they won't get caught. Stupid, stupid people.

My in-laws have a small ranch in west Texas, and they have had to sell off half their cattle. Ironically, their area is a little better off now, while we are still dry as a bone.

I'm a little confused though - how is this map going to help us? Should we be pumping water from the blue areas to the red areas? Seems a bit far...

Originally posted by Vardoger
I wonder If Mr. Pinkerton buying up land rights for the underground aquifers and draining them dry has anything to add to the current situation.

At least I think it is Pinkerton doing so, could be mistaken. Cause we all know...if you can drill to it on you're land, you can suck it out of your neighbors.

Can go a few ways with that thought . Is he filling them back up or going to let nature take it's time to do it with the trickle down . Once he drains them dry there is nothing but an empty cavern under ground , hence the quakes from the collapsing aquifer .

Unless someone can do some rain dances it is all up to what falls from the skies to keep the drought from expanding more . To heavy of rains is a bad thing also when it washes away the topsoil into the gulf and or the harsh winds that also remove any plowed soils elsewhere . Long soaking rains have always been better than the brief heavy rains that happen there . Pacific north west prime example of long soaking rains on the map .

Pumping from the blue to the red on the map isn't going to fill up the aquifers sorry to say . Pumping from the gulf isn't going to help because of the salt content in that water is going to hurt the soil worse . Water filtration will do fine but the scale of that process to fix it would cost billions if not trillions . Texas seemed more like a river delta washout area from the ice age , no offense intended .

reply to post by kaylaluv


Well, I wasn't talking about pumping water around...

What I meant was that if these kinds of maps were kept up to date and posted publicly, people might be able to see that there groundwater situation is changing, and perhaps they might assume some personal strategies to help... you know, watering the lawn a little less frequently, not wasting water carelessly, reconsidering washing a car when it's not really 'necessary.'

I know that these groundwater situations don't come about over a matter of hours or days, and obviously we can't count on government agencies or universities to actually "do" something about it, but we could be prepared.... or at least a bit better prepared for the shortages..... Also, it might become clearer to many where the priorities for community development should be.... like do we build a new AAA baseball stadium or a new reservoir?

Just an idea.

I live in the coastal area near Galveston Bay and can personally attest to the severity of the drought. My driveway has had several of the once small cracks grow by as much as an inch horizontally and been displaced by as much as a half of an inch vertically. This has extended to my foundation as well, causing cracks in walls and loosening of some of the tiles in my kitchen. My parents house is in the same situation.

I had high hopes for this year's tropical season only to have those hopes dashed as several systems passed us by north or south giving only tantalizing glimpses of distant rainfall. We've had a small amount of rain in the area since fall began, but we are still very far behind where we should be for the year.

We need rain, LOTS of rain for the health of our environment, infrastructure, economy, and mental well being.

Thinking the army core of engineers need some earth moving equipment to make some lakes across the state .

reply to post by Maxmars


I live of san Antonio TX, our local san Antonio news in late summer said this 3rd year drought which is getting more and more extreme every year will last anywhere from 5-10 years. Where I live has a very long reservoir some 35 miles long, this year alone I have watch this reservoir lake drop 20 plus feet. It is real bad. In new Mexico all public and private pools including hotels couldn't fill them this year. Lake Meade outside Las Vegas is some 100-150 ft low, been seeing it drop for past 5 years. Weather change is here and its ON.

I guess Perry tried to help by firing all the firemen. Those guys just go around spraying water alll over the place without a second thought.

But it is hard to know what this picture really shows with out a older photo to show the change. Texas has allways been dry with tumble weeds blowing around.

It's visible to the naked eye as well. I drive around and pass a few small lakes and what not and you can see that the water level has dropped really low.

Even at this golf course down the street. There is a pond that you can see from the road and it is nearly empty.

It seems every city in my area has water restrictions in place now.

The fires... I have not since the summer, but there were a couple times when I could honestly smell the smoke, and the nearest wild fire at the time was several miles from me.

Some cities ( Small ones) are just this side of having no water left and are having to buy and ship in water from other places.

I am ready for this drought to end. Thank you for bringing it back into public focus.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


I remember smelling the smoke from the Bastrop fires (and that's several miles away from me). I honestly thought there was a fire in my neighborhood - it was that strong. I can't imagine having to live through those fires.

Rain is expected tomorrow and the weekend here. Let's hope it goes on and on!

Something interesting about the drought that I wanted to share with everyone. I was reading an article in the News Paper today. They were talking about Navarro Lake. Because the water level is so low, they found an old burial ground from the 1890's that was previously unknown.

It apparently belonged to former slaves who were freed and became share croppers. The lake was made in the 1980's but they did not know there were bodies buried there because there were no grave markers. I guess the water uncovered the bodies.

It said there were 25 children's bodies and only a few adults bodies. They are going to give the bodies a proper burial in an official cemetery. Glad to see them getting a proper burial after so many years. Can you imagine the life these people lived?

I just thought that was an interesting bit of local history worth sharing with my fellow history buffs.


Side note: It has been raining a little bit today in North Texas, where I live, but not nearly enough to make any kind of real dent in the drought.

Originally posted by kaylaluv
reply to post by gimme_some_truth

 

I remember smelling the smoke from the Bastrop fires (and that's several miles away from me). I honestly thought there was a fire in my neighborhood - it was that strong. I can't imagine having to live through those fires.

Rain is expected tomorrow and the weekend here. Let's hope it goes on and on!

Yeah, it would be so scary. Can you imagine being the people who did? Lots of people were able to visibly see the fire and had to worry about the fire moving onto their property and of course, some did lose their property and I think I remember hearing of a barn burning, killing the horses trapped inside.

Very sad.

It has been raining here a bit today, but not really enough to make any real difference. But hey, at this point, any little bit helps.

Oh to maxmars, I forgot to tell you. S&F.

reply to post by Vardoger


I think you mean T. Boone Pickens, not Pinkerton. Old thread:

Texas "Rule of Capture" Fight Heats Up.


....I notice the US Bread Basket is fairly dry, not a good sign. But - looks like Lake Superior is draining into just a few states. ???

S&F& again Maxmars. You go girl!

Now would be the time to make the drinking water reservoirs larger for future times like these. The populations are only going to increase in size. If they wait and do nothing, next time it can be a deadly situation.

Originally posted by MBF
Now would be the time to make the drinking water reservoirs larger for future times like these. The populations are only going to increase in size. If they wait and do nothing, next time it can be a deadly situation.

We used to have huge fresh water reservoirs called "aquifers" - a million years in the making - but they got drained to irrigate the wrong crops in the wrong areas.

...It's already a deadly situation. Check out the old thread Texas "Rule of Capture" Fight Heats Up.. It outlines the basic situation rather ...nicely.