{"id":39070,"date":"2014-11-03T09:54:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T15:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=39070"},"modified":"2014-11-04T10:34:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T16:34:00","slug":"options-drying-up-for-some-parched-north-texas-towns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/11\/03\/options-drying-up-for-some-parched-north-texas-towns\/","title":{"rendered":"Options Drying Up For Some Parched North Texas Towns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

EPA\/LARRY W. SMITH \/LANDOV<\/p>

A tree trunk is exposed where water used to be in Bridgeport Lake.<\/p><\/div>\n

Although parts of the state saw massive amounts of rain in October, parched conditions remain a dismal reality for many north Texas towns.<\/p>\n

In September, StateImpact spoke with people in two towns<\/a> – Gordon and Mineral Wells – both scrambling for alternative water sources. Gordon\u00a0had about four months of water left at the end of August according to the city\u2019s utilities director, Kenneth Epperson.<\/p>\n

We recently checked in with Epperson, who says the early autumn months brought no relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we\u2019ve got \u2018till January the 15th,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The town had been considering tapping into a lake owned by a local rancher. Unfortunately, that may no longer be an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis is pretty low too; so we\u2019re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,”\u00a0says Epperson.<\/p>\n

Just like Gordon, the water situation in Mineral Wells hasn\u2019t improved since August. City Manager\u00a0Lance Howerton says the city\u2019s main water source, the Palo Pinto Reservoir, remains low.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s close to 11 [percent full] at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Gordon, Mineral Wells seems to have some plans in the works. Tapping into Lake Mineral Wells and desalinating water from the Brazos River are two options for the town. A third proposal,\u00a0\u00a0involving tapping into the neighboring town of Weatherford, has been ruled out due to projected cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next 60 days, the water district will be making some decisions to move forward one or both of those two remaining strategies,\u201d\u00a0says Howerton.<\/p>\n

Storms that passed over the region in the wake of Hurricane Odile in September, illustrated just how unpredictable rainfall in Texas can be. While Gordon and Mineral Wells continue to struggle, other Texas towns have saw major improvements in drought conditions.<\/p>\n

Drive two hours West Gordon and you\u2019ll find the city of Snyder, Texas, whose reservoir soaked up more than 30 feet of rain thanks to Hurricane Odile, according to the Texas Water Development Board.<\/p>\n

The J.B. Thomas Reservoir increased from one 1 percent\u00a0to almost 50 percent full<\/a>\u00a0thanks to massive rainfall. Snyder, also drought-stricken, reportedly tapped into the reservoir soon after the downpour. Other cities including Midland and Odessa are waiting for pumps to become operational before taking advantage of J.B. Thomas.<\/p>\n

In the absence of a strategy to bring in more water, the City of Gordon’s Epperson says all he can do is hope for a similar storm to strike over his town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all keep-a-hopin\u2019. We\u2019re just seeing \u2018till December; and we if don\u2019t get some [rain] we\u2019ll see about doing something else,\u201d says Epperson.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although parts of the state saw massive amounts of rain in October, parched conditions remain a dismal reality for many north Texas towns. In September, StateImpact spoke with people in two towns – Gordon and Mineral Wells – both scrambling for alternative water sources. Gordon\u00a0had about four months of water left at the end of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[61],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39070"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39081,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39070\/revisions\/39081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}