Rice farmer Billy Mann says that in the future, they'll have to grow more rice with less water.
New numbers put into perspective just how much water rice farmers in southeast Texas used out of the Highland Lakes for their water-intensive crop compared with city-dwellers in Austin last year. The Highland Lakes consist of two large reservoirs, Lakes Buchanan and Travis, and several pass-through lakes. Buchanan and Travis are still only half-full, despite a wetter-than-average winter.
A new report from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), which manages water in the Highland Lakes for the city of Austin and farmers downstream, shows that rice farmers used 367,985 acre-feet of water from the lakes in 2011. (An acre-foot is a measurement of water, i.e., how much water it would take to cover one acre with one foot of water, which is roughly equivalent to 325,800 gallons.) Another 65,266 acre-feet of water was released from the lakes downstream but not used, due to evaporation, seepage, or “conditions changed that eliminated the need for the water,” according to the LCRA, bringing their total to 433,251 acre-feet used from the Highland Lakes.
The city of Austin, on the other hand, used 106,622 acre-feet of water from the Highland Lakes, less than a third of the amount used by rice farmers. And the same pretty much holds true for previous years. (Another 192,404 acre-feet of water straight up evaporated from the lakes last year.)
A cow that perished on a ranch outside of Marfa was dried "like jerky" by the drought.
Driving a pickup through a ranch outside of Marfa, Texas last week, grad students Justin Hoffman and John Edwards came across a sight sadly common for their region in far West Texas. A cow that had perished in the field.
What was strange about the grisly discovery was the condition of the body. After months in the elements, the animal still looked very nearly intact. The arid weather had dried its skin and organs “like jerky,” says Edwards. He gave its side a knock with his fist, the hollow drum-like thud illustrating his point.
For many Texans who came close to forgetting what rain looked like, this past winter was a welcome surprise. Unusually-wet weather helped Central and East Texas crawl their way out of last years historic drought. But the same canât be said for the Trans-Pecos region, the far western point of the state, where the drought persists unabated. Continue Reading →
Photo courtesy of Flickr user riko.jennrich/Creative Commons
Nutria are one of the more notorious invasive species in Texas
Burros, armadillos, bluebonnets, and pecan trees are just a few examples of the diverse flora and fauna that one might come across in Texas. While some of these species have become a source of state pride, others are much less welcome.
Over the past few decades, a coterie of invasive species has trespassed into the Lone Star State. The federal government defines an “invasive species” as âa species that is non-native or alien to the ecosystem” and “causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.â Zebra mussels, Africanized bees, and feral hogs are just a few of the invasive species that have made their presence known in Texas.
Combined, invasive species have caused an immense amount of agricultural, ecological, and economic damage. Local scientists are worried that they’ll continue to wreak havoc unless state regulators and citizens alike start implementing stronger measures to stop them from spreading.
The photo gallery below shows the top ten invasive species in Texas, along with brief summaries of the damage they’re causing to the state. Continue Reading →
Judge John Dietz has made a ruling that could cost the state billions in tax revenues.
A new ruling this week from Travis County District Judge John Dietz this week could cost the state of Texas billions in tax revenue. Ruling in favor of the drilling company Southwest Royalties, the court found that oil and gas equipment used for exploring and completing wells should not be subject to sales tax because it qualifies for an manufacturing exemption.
Frequent lawn watering may soon become a thing of the past in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
While the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was the first major population center in Texas to become drought-free this winter, it looks like they’re preparing for more droughts like the one that has baked the state over the last year and half. This week a coalition of four mayors in the region (representing Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth and Irving) announced their intention to enact permanent water restrictions in their cities by this summer. This would mean residents could only water their lawns twice a week.
âFor us to grow in our future, weâve got to have that water,â Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at an announcement Wednesday, according to local news reports. âWe donât have enough water for those people. In less than 20 years, you talk about a deficit in Washington. We have a deficit right here in North Texas and itâs water,â he said.
Ken Kramer, Director of the Sierra Club in Texas, applauded the move in a statement Thursday. âAlthough this is only one measure in a series of potential water conservation practices that might be pursued, it is significant,” he said. “It demonstrates that the North Central Texas area â which has often been criticized for its heavy water use â is making progress in embracing a water conservation ethic.”
Dallas, Fort Worth and Irving are some of the top users of water per capita in the state, making them prime subjects for conservation. But each city’s council still has to approve the permanent restrictions before they go into effect.
A firefighter poses in front of a wall of hail in Amarillo, Texas Wednesday.
At first people didn’t believe it, but it really is true. A photo from the National Weather Service’s Amarillo office (NWS) posted on Facebook Wednesday night shows a local firefighter standing next to a wall of hail some four feet high.
In an interview with MSNBC, Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Amarillo, denied that the photo just showed ice on top of rocks, as some skeptics asserted after seeing it. “I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas,” she told MSNBC. She said the four feet of ice was caused by a lot of rain and water. “Anytime you have hail accumulate 2 to 4 feet high and get over three inches of rain, no matter how it occurs, it’s pretty incredible,” she told the news site. And because of excessive drought in the region, there was a lot of dust, which gave the ice that rock like color.
Garcia takes the seat of Elizabeth Ames Jones, who resigned from the commission in February to run for the Texas Senate. Jones had come under fire for moving to San Antonio to run for the senate, as rules require Railroad commissioners to live in the state capital.
(The Railroad Commission of Texas is something of a misnomer as it no longer has anything to do with railroads. You can read some background here.)
In a press release from the governor’s office, Garcia is noted as being “a member of the Texas Coastal Land Advisory Board and Gulf of Mexico Alliance, an ex-officio member of the Texas Water Foundation, and co-chair of the Americaâs Wetland Foundation Blue Ribbon Resilient Communities Effort.” And also for being a Little League coach.
UPDATE: Garcia released a statement early Friday morning through the TCEQ on his new appointment: Continue Reading →
A new map from the Texas Tribune shows water levels in lakes and reservoirs across the state.
A new interactive map from our friends at the Texas Tribune allows you to see up-to-date levels for major lakes and reservoirs in the state. The map was created by the Tribune’s environmental reporter Kate Galbraith and data reporter Ryan Murphy.
Although overall drought conditions have improved in much of the state, our water storage hasn’t fully recovered. As you can see from the Tribune’s map, many lakes and reservoirs in the western parts of the state are still no more than a quarter full. On the eastern half of Texas, however, nearly all of the lakes and reservoirs are between 75 and 100 percent full. You can see the map in full at the Texas Tribune.
In the latest drought monitor released today, over 17 percent of the state is completely drought-free. But much of the western part of the state is still in the worst stages of drought, as is clear in the map to the right. These new maps put in stark relief the difference between the two halves of the state in their recovery from the drought.
Just how much damage has the drought done to Texas? For the first time, you can see an interactive map and several visualizations that show just how severe the drought has been our new interactive web app, âDried Out: Confronting the Texas Drought.âÂ
Trip Doggett is the President of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
Power moves Texas, but does the state have enough juice to make it through another blistering summer? Trip Doggett, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), discusses new power generation, conservation, alternative energy, weather and oversight at a Texas Senate hearing today.
Check out our Storify feed, featuring reporting by StateImpact Texas and tweets from Kate Galbraith and others at the hearing, after jump: Continue Reading →
In a January announcement, the LCRA said that they wanted to add 100,000 acre-feet of water. (An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre of land with water a foot deep, about 326,000 gallons of water.) One of the ideas to accomplish that goal was to build “off-channel” reservoirs downstream of the Highland Lakes, essentially side buckets that capture extra water downstream and store it for agricultural use.
This week the LCRA announced a pilot project to see how viable the bucket idea is. Continue Reading →
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