It’s raining (and in some cases, flooding) across Texas. A popular question this morning will be: Is the Drought Over? And the answer to that largely depends on where you are. If you’re in East Texas, the answer is a qualified yes. (Many reservoirs still haven’t recovered.) In West Texas? There’s still a ways to […]
The lakes neared historic lows during the drought last year. So what would it take to get them back up?
This morning, Kate Galbraith of the Texas Tribune led a discussion on Twitter with Laura Huffman of the Nature Conservancy and Charles Fishman, author of The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water on what to do about water issues in Texas. As the state grows and it seems to rain less and less, […]
Map by NOAA Break out the jorts and put away the turtlenecks, because the U.S. just ended the warmest 12-month period in its entire history, according to new numbers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Naturally, Texas was no exception. The state had its second hottest May to April ever, and twenty-two other states had their […]
It’s been raining across Texas, and more is on the way. In the map to the right from the National Weather Service, you can see predictions for rainfall between three to five inches through Sunday this week for much of the state. It’s welcome news for West Texas, which continues to struggle with the ongoing drought, while […]
Despite the fact that it’s been a relatively dry April for much of the state, particularly Central Texas, the slow improvement of the drought continues, though the news isn’t all good. The latest numbers released today by the the National Drought Monitor show that parts of the state are still making their way out of […]
Last month we debuted our interactive web page on the Texas drought, Dried Out: Confronting the Texas Drought. Now there’s an update to the page, so you can see the latest illustration of how the drought progressed, and how conditions are slowly improving across much of the state. What was once a sea of red (indicating […]
Water is becoming scarcer in Texas, and the solutions being passed around as of late are varied. Desalination, conservation and new reservoirs are all on the table. Another less, ummmm, palatable solution that is already being used in Texas? Treating “effluent” (i.e. waste water) to be used again for drinking, cooking and cleaning. A new video […]
If you live in Dallas, you may want to reconsider that thirsty St. Augustine grass on your lawn, because starting Monday, you’ll only be able to water your lawn twice a week. Permanently. Today the Dallas City Council voted in permanent water restrictions for the city, in a move that Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (as well as […]
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 […]
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