Texas Water Journal (TWJ - Texas Digital Library, TDL E-Journals)
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Commentary: 85th Texas State Legislature: summaries of water-related legislative action
No full textEditor-in-Chief’s Note: September 1 of every odd-numbered year is the date when new legislation from the most recent session of the Texas Legislature typically goes into effect. With this in mind, the Texas Water Journal invited four organizations that work closely with the Texas Legislature to provide their take on the changes to Texas water policy and law that were made during the 2017 session. The opinions expressed in these summaries are the opinions of the individual organizations and not the opinions of the Texas Water Journal or the Texas Water Resources Institute.Organizations:
Texas Water Conservation Association
Sierra Club, Lone Star Chapter
Texas Water Infrastructure Network
Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts
Citation: Commentary: Steinbach SA, Kramer K, Mullins C, Fowler PL, Schlessinger SR. 2017. Commentary: 85th Texas State Legislature: summaries of water-related legislative action. Texas Water Journal. 8(1):67-86. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v8i1.7064
Book review: Water is for fighting over and other myths about water in the West
No full textCitation: McDonald C. 2016. Book review: Water is for fighting over and other myths about water in the West. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):82-84. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7049
Conjunctive groundwater management as a response to socio-ecological disturbances: a comparison of 4 western U.S. states
No full textRecent severe droughts in U.S. western and Great Plains states have highlighted the challenges that socio-ecological disturbances can pose for governing groundwater resources, as well as the interconnections between groundwater and surface water and the need to manage the 2 in an integrated way. Conjunctive management recognizes these interconnections and can be used to mitigate disturbances and achieve a variety of water management goals. However, comparative studies of how and to what extent various states have implemented conjunctive management strategies are few. Here we compare and assess the use of conjunctive management practices in 4 western states—Arizona, California, Nebraska, and Texas—with a particular focus on groundwater. Special attention is paid to factors of geography and infrastructure, degree of administrative (de)centralization, and monitoring and modeling in relation to conjunctive management. Despite the commonality of bifurcated regimes for groundwater and surface water, all 4 states have responded to disturbances with conjunctive management strategies in various ways. Although it has groundwater management challenges similar to those in the other 3 states, Texas has overall been slower to adopt conjunctive management strategies.
Citation: Sugg ZP, Ziaga S, Schlager EC. 2016. Conjunctive groundwater management as a response to socio-ecological disturbances: a comparison of 4 western U.S. states. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):1-24. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7019
An introduction to the NWS West Gulf River Forecast Center
No full textThe National Weather Service (NWS) West Gulf River Forecast Center (WGRFC), in cooperation with numerous federal, state, and local government entities, uses the latest science and technology to provide timely and accurate river forecasts in an effort to protect life and property for most of the river drainages in Texas. Disaster preparedness decreases property damage by an estimated $1 billion annually nationwide. The mission is to provide basic hydrologic forecast information for the economic and environmental well-being for the nation. The WGRFC is 1 of 13 river forecast centers within the United States and is located in Fort Worth, Texas. The WGRFC’s area of responsibility stretches from the Rio Grande in southern Colorado, New Mexico and south Texas eastward to the Sabine River along the Texas-Louisiana border. Other rivers in the center’s area of responsibility include the Pecos, Nueces, San Antonio, Guadalupe, Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, and Neches rivers. This article will describe the variety of hydrologic forecasting services routinely provided by the WGRFC. Although flood forecasts are its most well-known product, the WGRFC also generates river and water information used for recreation, reservoir operations, and water supply plans. Additionally, the WGRFC produces estimates of hourly precipitation. To achieve this, the WGRFC has 2 primary functions; a hydrometeorological function and a hydrologic function. This article will describe each function and discuss how each function serves as steps in the preparation and the issuing of hydrologic forecasts.
Citation: Story GJ. 2016. Program note: An introduction to the NWS West Gulf River Forecast Center. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):56-63. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7036
Book review: Water is for fighting over: a compilation of articles on water resource management in Texas
No full textCitation: Mace RE. 2016. Book review: Water is for fighting over: a compilation of articles on water resource management in Texas. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):67-68. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7046
Implementing three-dimensional groundwater management in a Texas groundwater conservation district
No full textThe Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District has implemented a 3-dimensional water management solution that allocates pumping rights based on actual volumes in place under a tract. This new regime treats the aquifer as a “constant level lake” where rights holders are awarded the right to a percentage of the inflow (recharge) based on the volume of saturated sands underneath their property.
Three-dimensional management can improve Texas groundwater governance by strengthening property rights, promoting conservation, and unlocking economic value by promoting water trading and collateralization. It is also cost-effective and can be rapidly implemented: the Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District created its initial 3-dimensional ruleset in approximately 4 months at a cost of roughly 100,000. Yet the intensive property tax regime in Texas means that even the least-populous counties typically already have such information available in digital form.
Quantifying the available water volume beneath each property and making pumping rights transferrable between wells profoundly transforms groundwater management and confers clear vested rights to water in place. As such, it can provide economic recourse to smaller water holders even in areas where municipalities and other large pumpers enter the district. In short, this forward-looking, conservation-oriented new ruleset provides a way for Texas groundwater stewards to move past flat surface acreage-based allocations and move into an era where a handful of large pumpers in a district do not erode the property rights of smaller holders. Quantifying water in place involves averaging and making certain approximations and generalizations because of the inevitably complex nature of geologic formations. Over time, groundwater conservation districts and their constituent members will determine how deeply to engage that complexity. The bottom line is that 3-dimensional management offers an exponential degree of improvement over existing Texas groundwater management models. The Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District’s ruleset embraces a philosophy of iterative learning and improvement and acknowledges that employing models as tools of governance always involves approximations. It handles this by including the capacity to rapidly update and revise its approach as the district obtains additional data points and insights through operational implementation of its rules.
Citation: Blumberg H, Collins G. 2016. Implementing three-dimensional groundwater management in a Texas groundwater conservation district. Texas Water Journal. 6(1): 69-81. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7037
Regulating unregulated groundwater in Texas: how the state could conquer this final frontier
No full textTexas has 9 major aquifers and 21 minor aquifers underlying the state. These aquifers are a vital water supply source in Texas, providing approximately 60% of the 16.1 million acre-feet of water used in the state annually. These underground waters also sustain surface water flow in rivers across Texas; thus, they are integral to the health of watersheds throughout the state and the economies that depend on this water. However, approximately one-third of Texas is not regulated by a groundwater conservation district. During a time of unparalleled pressure on groundwater resources across the state, the lack of groundwater protection in some areas of Texas is undermining important areas of law and policy—from property rights and natural resource protection, to groundwater management and regional water planning. The presence of a groundwater conservation district, however, does not guarantee effective management of groundwater resources or protection of private property rights, springflow, and surface water flow. Groundwater policy in Texas permits aquifers to be mined and fails to protect the property rights of landowners who wish to conserve their groundwater. In addition, a fragmented regulatory structure and insufficient funding for groundwater conservation districts impede effective management of groundwater resources. To bring effective groundwater management to areas of the state where groundwater conservation districts do not exist, therefore, Texas must resolve fundamental challenges in the way groundwater is managed in areas where it is regulated.
Citation: Puig-Williams V. 2016. Regulating unregulated groundwater in Texas: how the state could conquer this final frontier. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):85-96. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7039
Book review: Bitter waters: the struggles of the Pecos River
No full textCitation: McDonald C. 2016. Book review: Bitter waters: The struggles of the Pecos River. Texas Water Joural. 7(1):64-66. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7043
A literature review: developing an information feedback interface to encourage water conservation behavior among utility customers
No full textWater conservation behavior among water utility customers can be encouraged by engaging and educating customers about their consumption habits. To be successful, the information used to engage and educate must (1) be comprehensive, including both broad and narrow information, so that individuals understand where they fit into water management and how their actions impact water management and their community, and (2) help them make decisions about their use.
This article is a literature review of elements that can be incorporated into a customer-friendly information feedback interface. Some elements discussed are billing features, information about the water cycle, and local water sources, and local partnerships. The use of data is also addressed, and to that end, benefits of advanced metering infrastructure systems are mentioned. The details of these systems are not addressed. The intent of this research is to provide types and styles of information that can be combined to create an effective and meaningful information feedback system for water utility customers to encourage conservation.
Citation: Hawkins CAJ, Berthold TA. 2016. A literature review: developing an information feedback interface to encourage water conservation behavior among utility customers. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):40-55. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7029
Comparison of infiltration flux in playa lakes in grassland and cropland basins, Southern High Plains of Texas
No full textPlayas are the dominant wetland type on the Southern High Plains of Texas and capture runoff during periods of heavy rainfall. Observing the hydrologic functions of playa is important to evaluate their ecological services, which include encouragement of species biodiversity and recharge of the underlying High Plains (Ogallala) Aquifer. Ten pairs of playas were chosen in 10 counties on the Texas Southern High Plains. Each pair included 1 playa surrounded by natural grassland (not in the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Reserve Program) and 1 playa surrounded by cultivated cropland. Instrumentation at each playa allowed calculation of changes in free water evaporation and water stored over time during the hydroperiods, defined as continuous durations of surface water storage in the playa basins, caused by one or more rainfall events that generated sufficient runoff flows to reach and fill the playas. A water budget model calculated daily infiltration flux through the playa bottoms. Six cropland playas and 3 grassland playas had significant hydroperiods with associated consistent instrumentation operation during the 6-year study across the years 2005 to 2011. The average observed infiltration flux rates were approximately 10 millimeters/day (range 2 to 20 millimeters/day) and 3 millimeters/day (range 1 to 5 millimeters/day) for the cropland and grassland playas, respectively. The preliminary results may be influenced by the presence of eroded sediments from the surrounding cropland, but more runoff events are needed to differentiate between the impacts of playa floor soils and variations in rainfall and playa watershed characteristics that contribute to the hydroperiods.
Citation: Ganesan G, Rainwater K, Gitz D, Hall N, Zartman R, Hudnall W, Smith L. 2016. Comparison of infiltration flux in playa lakes n grassland and cropland basins, Southern High Plains of Texas. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):25-39. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7007