{"id":18410,"date":"2012-09-21T13:01:36","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T18:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=18410"},"modified":"2012-09-22T13:43:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-22T18:43:28","slug":"the-drought-could-be-ending-thank-god-and-rick-perry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/09\/21\/the-drought-could-be-ending-thank-god-and-rick-perry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Texas Drought Could Be Ending, Thank God. (And Thank Rick Perry?)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux\/Getty Images<\/p>

Texas Governor Rick Perry speaks to an estimated 30,000 attendees at the non-denominational prayer and fasting event, "The Response," on August 6, 2011 in Houston, Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n

Texas has come a long way in recovering from the devastating single-year drought of 2011. The latest US Drought Monitor Map<\/a> out this week shows that more than 11 percent of the state is completely drought-free. And less than 5 percent of the state is in the worst stage of drought. By comparison, a year ago, more than 88 percent of the state was in that “exceptional” drought stage.<\/p>\n

Since then, things have drastically improved. And during a conference call this week with the prayer campaign 40 Days to Save America<\/a>, former pastor and Christian\u00a0fundamentalist\u00a0Rick Scarborough<\/a> credited Texas Governor’s Rick Perry’s call to prayer a year ago for ending the drought. Last August, Perry led a prayer and Bible reading at ‘The Response<\/a>,’ a prayer meeting of some 30,000 to 40,000 people at the massive Reliant Stadium in Houston. And apparently it worked?<\/p>\n

“The press was willing to mock the prayer and fasting,” Scarborough says in the call featuring Perry, which you can listen to here<\/a>, “but failed to document that — what everyone had thought would take years — to\u00a0replenish\u00a0our lakes and\u00a0streams\u00a0— almost happened in three months.” Scarborough says farmers have had a record year of hay harvest (actually, they haven’t<\/a>) and that it all goes back “to the courageous call of a governor of a state to the people to pray and fast.”<\/p>\n

However, many lakes and streams in Texas are very, very far from replenished<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Map by Texas Tribune<\/p>

Texas' reservoirs have a long way to go to recover from drought, as you can see in this latest map of lake levels from the Texas Tribune.<\/p><\/div>\n

O.H. Ivie, the main reservoir<\/a> for several West Texas towns, is less than 12 percent full. It’s been falling all year<\/a>. San Angelo has less than a year of water left<\/a>. E.V. Spence\u00a0Reservoir, which used to supply the town of Robert Lee<\/a>, is still\u00a0empty. The Highland Lakes, the main reservoirs for Central Texas, are less than half full<\/a>. And a new report this week by Texas A&M Agrilife Today warns that “South Texas reservoir levels are low and keep dropping<\/a>.” Amistad and Falcon Lakes, which make up the water supply for farmers and municipalities along the South Texas border, are at a combined 44 percent of capacity.<\/p>\n

State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon (a Perry appointee) says that it could take years for Texas’ reservoirs to recover.<\/p>\n

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