May 2008

Experts at Texas Climate Change Conference Call for Planning

With rising temperatures putting more pressure on Texas' water supplies, state policymakers should fold climate change into their planning, according to scientists who met at the Capitol last week. But even as the scientists marched through slide shows and urged the lawmakers to act, the appetite in the Legislature to tackle the issue remains an unknown. The scientists, who had gathered for Climate Change Impacts on Texas Water, a conference organized chiefly by the River Systems Institute at Texas State University-San Marcos, said models were not yet good enough to predict exactly how climate change might affect the state. But some of the scientists made their own predictions. "Where it's wet, it's going to get wetter. Where it's dry, it's going to get drier," said Gerald North, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University. Crop yields could decline by 40 percent, and ranchers might want to invest in heat-tolerant cattle, said Bruce McCarl, an agricultural economist from Texas A&M. Average summer temperatures, which hovered around the high 70s from the 1960s through the 1990s, could rise into the 90s by century's end, said Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University. Forecasts for precipitation and groundwater supplies were less clear-cut. The conference closed with a session on state water policy in coming decades. Lurking in the background was the issue of what responsibility Texas should take. The Lone Star state is the nation's leading emitter of carbon dioxide, which scientists have linked to global warming. Texas does not have caps on carbon dioxide emissions, and some lawmakers said they want to wait until the federal government takes action.

Danger to Edward Aquifer by Global Warming Said to be Unknown by Official at Texas Climate Change Conference

The Edwards Aquifer is one of the most vulnerable in the country to climate change, but today's tools are insufficient to plan for global warming's impact on local or state water supplies, a Texas water manager said Tuesday. Hydrologist Robert Mace of the Texas Water Development Board said it is a "no-brainer" that climate change will impact Texas aquifers. But he said substantially more study needs to be done on the effect of global warming on recharge to the state's aquifers as well as an effort made to downscale global climate models to Texas before water planners can account for the impact in the state water plan. "On a water resource planning level, we would like to have more certainty," Mace said. Global warming's impact on state water supplies was the topic of a three-day conference in Austin. The conference, organized by the Texas State University-San Marcos' River Systems Institute, brought together experts from all over the state and country to discuss how Texas can best respond to climate change. A panel at the conference recommended forming a statewide consortium to spearhead the effort.

Influential Water Conservation Leader Departs Texas Parks & Wildlife

Dr. Larry McKinney, known affectionately as "Dr. Doom" for his candid, outspoken approach to addressing environmental issues, is leaving the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department a legacy not built on despair, but on hope. For more than 20 years with the department, McKinney has championed endangered and threatened species and served as a proponent for resource conservation, water resources in particular. McKinney, director of Coastal Fisheries and senior director of Aquatic Resources for TPWD, has been named executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He assumes his new role in July. "All of us at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will miss Dr. McKinney's extraordinary leadership, scientific acumen, vision, and conservation ethic while serving as Director of Coastal Fisheries," said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director. "During his nearly 25 year tenure with the agency, he has been at the forefront of innovative conservation efforts to protect our seagrass meadows, to ensure adequate freshwater inflows into our bays and estuaries, to enhance our sport fisheries, and to conserve our unique fish and wildlife resources along the Texas coast," Smith said.

EPA May Decide Not to Limit Toxin that has Fouled the Water Supplies of at Least 11 Million People

A top Environmental Protection Agency official told a Senate committee Tuesday that there was "a distinct possibility" that the agency would not limit the amount of perchlorate, a toxic ingredient of solid rocket fuel, that is allowable in drinking water. State officials and water suppliers across the nation have been waiting for the EPA to set a standard for several years because perchlorate has contaminated the water supplies of at least 11 million people. Last year, California, impatient with the EPA's indecision, set its own standard. Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said the EPA would decide by the end of the year whether to regulate perchlorate. Scientific studies have shown that the chemical blocks iodide and suppresses thyroid hormones, which are necessary for the normal brain development of a fetus or infant.

San Angelo to Take up $83 Million Aquifer Water Supply Proposal

Given such names as Hickory, Whitehorse and Clear Fork, the potential sources in San Angelo's elusive search for a long-term water supply have come and gone like the fickle West Texas rain. Thirty-six years after buying the water rights to the Hickory Sand aquifer, the San Angelo City Council now finds itself right where it started - considering today a recommendation from its Water Advisory Board that it begin studying options for developing the massive Hill Country underground water formation. "We have concluded that the desalination at this point is not going to be cost effective," said Stephen Brown, a member of the advisory board and former city manager. Tests from the Clear Fork aquifer south of Knickerbocker - the second of two salt-water formations closer to San Angelo than Hickory Sand - found levels of radiation were too high to treat effectively, said Water Utilities Director Will Wilde. That finding, following an inability to extract enough usable water from wells driven into the Whitehorse aquifer in Irion County, dashed any hope of finding a cost-effective way to supplement the city's water supply with desalinated water from nearby aquifers, Brown said. Instead, the council must decide whether to move forward with plans to develop the fresh-water aquifer with which the city has the longest - and rockiest - relationship.

January 2008

City of Austin Proposes Wider Critical Water Quality Zone to Protect Colorado

Changes in the way critical water quality zone (CWQZ) buffers are measured in the Colorado River south of Longhorn Dam, approved last week by the Environmental Board, are designed to improve water quality and preserve the river’s economic and recreational values. A proposal developed by the city Watershed Protection and Development Review Department (WPDR) would amend the City Code to measure the CWQZ buffer from the bank rather than from the centerline of the river. “Currently, with parts of the Colorado up to 300 feet wide, there are places where most of the protective buffer is under water,” said Matt Hollen with WPDR. “This change will push future mining operations and development back a safe distance and stabilize the river bank.” City Code currently calls for a 200-foot buffer along the Colorado River on the 28 miles from Longhorn Dam to the end of the city’s five-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction boundary. Landowners that are currently using the 200-foot setback from the water’s centerline will be grandfathered under the amended code.

Annual White Bass Migration Under Way

East Texas anglers annually receive an opportunity to participate in the white bass migration. These small but feisty fish make spawning runs up area rivers and creeks, and the fish come in waves that at times can seem too numerous to imagine. It is not a guaranteed success story but the annual white bass "run" is about as dependable as a fishing trip can be. The great thing about the white bass - or sand bass as they are often called - is their easy access to all types of anglers. No expensive boat is required and high dollar tackle is not necessary. These fish seem to be designed for insuring fishing success for the masses. Lakes such as Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn and Palestine have tremendous white bass populations. These lakes are all fed by rivers and streams that the fish use as migration routes. The urge to go upstream is strong, and white bass can often be in the smallest of creeks. Annually, starting as early as November and as late as February, the fish start showing up in large numbers. For the most part January and February are the key months. The spawning run will usually last until March and April.

East Texas Study Results Released on the Impact of Intensive Forest Practices on Water Quality

In order to increase productivity, forest practices have become more intense in recent decades. Forest fertilization increased by 800% in the southeastern United States from 1990 to 1999, and the total acreage fertilized in the Southeast exceeds the forest area fertilized in the rest of the world. This has generated concern that intensive forest practices, including fertilization, may negatively impact water quality in forest streams. In a recent study, hydrologists at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) investigated the effects of intensive forestry on water quality in the timber-producing region of eastern Texas. The results are published in the January-February 2008 issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. Analysis at several small and large watersheds began in 1999. In 2002, treatment watersheds were clearcut harvested and herbicides applied to control competing vegetation. One subset of clearcut watersheds was fertilized with an aerial application of diammonium phosphate while another subset was not. Unfertilized streamside buffers of at least 15 m, consistent with Texas best management practices (BMPs), were retained on all intermittent and perennial streams. Clearcutting with herbicide site preparation alone resulted in slight increases of nitrogen on small watersheds but not on the large one. Fertilization resulted in increased losses of nitrogen and phosphorus from both the large and small watersheds. The overall magnitude of these increases was small. Rainfall nitrogen inputs were higher than stormflow losses of nitrogen. Peak runoff concentrations were well below published water quality standards.

Surge of Water through Grand Canyon Planned

A surge of water up to four times greater than normal will cascade through the Grand Canyon in March if plans being completed by federal officials are approved. The release of water from the Glen Canyon Dam upstream from the canyon is designed to scour sand from the bed of the Colorado River and rebuild beaches that support wildlife and are used for camping by rafters. It will also provide habitat for endangered native fish and will protect archaeological sites, according to the Interior Department. The Glen Canyon Dam was completed in the early 1960s and cut natural flood cycles that ranged from heavy springtime flooding that cleansed the river's sand and gravel bars to slow late fall flows. In the past decade, half the camping sites in the canyon have been lost to shrinking beaches. If environmental reviews of the project are approved as expected and the releases happen, it would be the third time the dam has been opened beyond power-generating capacity. Similar experiments were done in 1996 and 2004. This year's high-flow test is expected to be more successful than the previous efforts because federal scientists have determined that much more sand is available in the riverbed.

Pecos River Basin Study Continues with Public Meetings

Protecting the Pecos River Basin watershed has been an ongoing task over several years that will move into another phase next month when five public meetings will be held to seek comments from landowners across the sprawling West Texas region, said Steve Byrns, San Angelo-based Texas AgriLife Extension Service communications specialist. Texas AgriLife Extension Service is the newly coined name for what used to be known as the Texas Cooperative Extension Service. Byrns said the next phase will focus on maintenance and improvement of the Pecos River stream channel morphology, riparian vegetation, land use, salinity mapping, water inflows and outflows, aquatic habitats, historical perspectives and economic modeling. "This is the second round of landowner public comments," Byrns said. "Comments made last year by landowners along the Pecos River have been incorporated in a revised version of the plan. The second draft plan will be discussed at the February meetings."

Texas Landowners along Rio Grande Fight Federal Government over Fence

Eloisa Garcia Tamez is a Texan through and through. Back in 1747, the King of Spain granted her ancestors 12,000 acres of land. Through the generations, the parcel shrunk smaller and smaller, but Dr. Tamez still owns three of the original acres in El Calaboz, a tiny outpost on the southernmost tip of Texas, along the border with Mexico. And now the U.S. government wants build a massive fence right through the middle of it. Dr. Tamez is one of 135 landowners along the frontier who have received warning letters from the government requesting temporary access to their land for a 1,000-kilometre border fence to counter illegal immigration. Many residents along the border in Texas, where the Rio Grande river forms a natural border, see the fence as an unnecessary intrusion that will cut off their access to water and crops and sever important ties with cities and towns on the Mexican side. In Dr. Tamez's case, it could also fracture the last remnant of her family's legacy. "The wall shows an erosion of democracy," said Dr. Tamez, director of graduate nursing at the University of Texas at Brownsville. "It's unimaginable that something like this would happen in our country."
 

About the River Systems Institute:

Texas State University in San Marcos established the International Institute for Sustainable Water Resources in January 2002 as a leadership initiative to coordinate and further university-wide efforts in the field of aquatic resource management. In 2005, it was renamed the River Systems Institute, reflecting a sharpened emphasis on the primary importance of river systems in the hydrologic cycle. The Institute aims to promote a holistic approach to the management of river systems where key principles of sustainability and equitable use guide sound water policy.

For questions about the newsletter, contact editor Carol Flake Chapman by email at cflake@earthlink.net or by phone at 512-263-9728. To contact the River Systems Institute at Texas State University-San Marcos, call 512-245-9200 or consult our Web site: http://rivers.txstate.edu.

Stay tuned for “Forecast: Climate Change – Texas Water 2008,” hosted by the River Systems Institute and Texas Water Resources Institute. This timely conference, to be held April 28-30 at the Texas State Capitol Extension in Austin, will take a comprehensive look at what we know about climate change and what we need to know to prepare for local impact on Texas water resources and on the communities, both natural and human, which depend on them. “Forecast: Climate Change – Texas Water 2008” will feature international and national climate-change scientists who have conducted cutting-edge work in the prediction of global warming and the impending changes on the earth’s climate and state climatologists and scientists who are working to understand the impact on the State of Texas and its water resources. For more information and to register, go to our Web site: http://www.rivers.txstate.edu/CCTW/CCTW08index.htm.

December 2007

Water policy called vital issue for Texas

"Water policy will remain a legislative priority for years to come as Texas grapples with a booming population competing for scarcer resources, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst told more than 400 water experts in San Antonio on Monday." 
 

TWDB to Hold Financial Assistance Workshop at TRA Wastewater Plant

"'The Texas Water Development Board is conducting a Financial Assistance Workshop on low interest loans at Trinity River Authority of Texas’ Central Regional Wastewater Plant on December 11, 2007 at 10 a.m. The primary topic will be accessing the TWDB’s Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds for the financial benefit of the customers served by governmental entities in Texas."

November 2007

Work on Rio Grande levees in El Paso complete

"The U.S. International Water and Boundary Commission has completed work on dilapidated levees protecting this border city from Rio Grande flood waters."