Posted: 2/4/2015 1:40:12 PM EDT
Still continuing to drop because we haven't received much rain. Plus you keep reading this crap in the local news and the media and local leaders essentially throw up their hands and say "we either get rain or the lakes run dry because there's nothing else we can do". It's bullshit like this that pisses me off because we could have been issuing bonds among local cities here to build a desalination plant to start supplementing what we have. I'd rather have expensive water than no water.  |
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Good examples of local leaders not doing jack shit. People out around Palo Pinto were predicted to run out of water this February. When we got some heavy rain those couple of days in January, that extended them to sometime around April I think. But do you see any effort to actually finding some alternate solution? Nope. This area would absolutely benefit from a desal plant somewhere in the metro area serving them. Instead to the best of my knowledge they're piping in water from some other nearby lake. Problem is, that lake isn't full or anything and will continue to run dry throughout this drought. It relies on the same damn thing we're not getting any of: rain! Then the usual talking heads spout out "well we're in year 5 of this drought" and then proceed to remind people of the 1950s drought which lasted 7 years, so they're indirectly trying to tell people to wait another 2 years before you start panicking. But even though we'll wait 2 more years, they still have no plans on the table at all. |
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It will fill up. Just wait for the weather to change patterns. It will happen. Quoted:
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one lake in rowlett is now a forest It will fill up. Just wait for the weather to change patterns. It will happen. Weather patterns, consumption, evaporation, the lake filling up with silt from the runoff up north. We really do not expect it to ever recover. mm |
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Quoted: Good examples of local leaders not doing jack shit. People out around Palo Pinto were predicted to run out of water this February. When we got some heavy rain those couple of days in January, that extended them to sometime around April I think. But do you see any effort to actually finding some alternate solution? Nope. This area would absolutely benefit from a desal plant somewhere in the metro area serving them. Instead to the best of my knowledge they're piping in water from some other nearby lake. Problem is, that lake isn't full or anything and will continue to run dry throughout this drought. It relies on the same damn thing we're not getting any of: rain! Then the usual talking heads spout out "well we're in year 5 of this drought" and then proceed to remind people of the 1950s drought which lasted 7 years, so they're indirectly trying to tell people to wait another 2 years before you start panicking. But even though we'll wait 2 more years, they still have no plans on the table at all. Equally the drilling business has robbed our water supply over the last few years. I am not suggesting that we quit drilling. I am suggesting the problem is complex. A single desalination plant that would be extremely expensive to build and then operate, is not singularly the answer. There are new technologies in play in filtration that may help more than desalination plants. I have no idea how far out that is realistically. So while your solutions seems like it could help, the problem is multifaceted and not that simple given the extreme cost of desalination. And then there is who pays to run it or do you pay to pump it as far inland as DFW. On and on and on. EDIT: There are also lakes planned for certain low lying areas, do you suggest they just go in and take land away from people to get those lakes built? I agree with you the problem is very frustrating but it is also complex. And some long term solutions need to be decided upon. |
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I wish I could send y'all some of the East Texas rain. I live in Liberty County and we have plenty. I look often at Lake Travis' water level and it just seems like you folks cannot catch a break. +1 The Trinity has been up this year, but not at flood stage. When you can't see the tops of the fence posts between Dayton and Liberty, then you know you have some water. |
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Weather patterns, consumption, evaporation, the lake filling up with silt from the runoff up north. We really do not expect it to ever recover. mm Quoted:
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one lake in rowlett is now a forest It will fill up. Just wait for the weather to change patterns. It will happen. Weather patterns, consumption, evaporation, the lake filling up with silt from the runoff up north. We really do not expect it to ever recover. mm I remember in the early 80s when the whole north end of Lake Lewisville went dry. That was the entire area north of the old Garza-Little Elm Lake Dallas dam. You could walk across the whole lake there, except for the old river channel. It filled back up and in the late 80s and early 90s was many feet, I think like 20 feet or more above pool elevation. It will flood out again, North Texas has wet and dry cycles like this in the entirety of recorded history. |
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Ray Roberts is 8 ft low right now. I've seen it come up that much in a couple days. The metroplex lakes fill up even faster because they get more runoff. It will fill up eventually but I hope it does it a couple feet at a time. Fishing was great last year and if it comes up too quick it will kill all the aquatic vegetation again. |
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This has been a long time coming. It was predicted in the 80's, long before the drought. Consumption has exceeded supply. Aquifers don't recharge at the rate they are pumped. Here in West Texas, all of the attempts to supply water have failed. Even the newest, which uses well water from a distant county, has a finite supply. Officials are not talking solutions... because there are none. Desalination has issues; the byproduct is salt, which cannot be dumped just anywhere. The outlook is bleak. The drought watchers see no immediate relief, nor any for a while.
Of course, Lake J.B. Thomas has more water than it has in decades. My plans are to find a patch of ground where God waters the grass. I would like it to be within this state's borders, but it don't look good. Here's mud rain in your eye. buckmeister |