Sleepless in Midland

How to Make It Rain (when you can't do the dance)

A legal notice in Sunday's Midland Reporter Telegram gave notice that West Texas Weather Modification Association, which has been conducting cloud seeding operations around San Angelo, Texas, for several years, has filed an application for a four year permit to let it try to help keep the rains coming.

How will they do that?  From the notice:

"The aircraft will be equipped with flare racks and/or generators to dispense appropriate materials, either glaciogenic or hygroscopic or a combination of the two, into those clouds deemed receptive to seeding."

One method of making rain is to cause the moisture in clouds to freeze into droplets that become heavy enough to overcome the pressure in the cloud and fall, thawing on the way down, to become rain.  A glaciogenic substance would help stimulate the freezing of the moisture.  Source.

Silver iodide is such a substance as it has a structure similar to ice, and when it's present it helps induce the freezing of the water droplets.  But, the clouds have to contain super cooled water (zero degrees Celsius or lower), so conditions have to be just right before it will work, and it takes some very accurate meteorological information to know when those conditions exist.  Source.

The process also might suppress hail.  Source.

Hygroscopic seeding is the introduction of salts into the clouds.  The salts help transform water vapor into liquid water though the process known as vapor deposition.   Follow the link for details on some experiments and examples, such as a South African paper mill producing effluent of extra large hygroscopic particles which seemed to be causing extra large rain drops.  Splat!

How successful is cloud seeding?  According to the state licensing site, "It cannot be overstated that drought is not the optimal time period for cloud seeding."  However, they estimate that in the year 2003 cloud seeding produced 2.8 million acre feet of rain water in Texas over what might have been otherwise produced by the clouds had they not been seeded.

Doing the math:  There are 640 acres in a square mile, therefore 2,800,000 acre feet of water would cover 4,375 square miles with water one foot deep.  That would cover entire the state of Rhode Island (1,545 square miles) with almost three feet of water.

And finally, the most important question:  How much does it cost?

At one section of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation site the TDLR estimates that the cost is 4 to 5 cents per acre of land expected to receive the rain, an area that could cover 6.4 million acres at the San Angelo project.  However, elsewhere at the same site the TDLR estimates the cost to be 8 to 9 cents per acre.  Using the highest estimate it comes to just over a half million dollars for that project.

Not cheap.  But maybe it's worth the price if the alternative is to dry up and blow away.

Drive Time in the West Texas Wetlands

By golly we've had the rain!  Early this morning the backyard gauge had about 4.6 inches that had accumulated over the past couple of days.  The gauge tops out at 5 inches, so I emptied it to start over.  As of around 4:45 pm CST it contained almost 3/4 inch of new rain.  Anyway, here are a few photos from around town.

 

 

   

    

   

Anyone interesting in re-reading the Midland Reporter-Telegram's account of the flood of 1968 in Midland, as reproduced in this weblog last year, then click this link.

I promise not to complain about the rain. I promise.

We've had the rain!  The backyard rain gauge shows that over three inches have fallen in the last couple of days.  And, it's still coming down.  Big time!

Ordinarily, the street in this photo would have been as dry as a bone, and this poor guy would have no trouble crossing.  Hat not needed.  But, not today.

The drought out here in west Texas was so bad, up until this year, that we were afraid it would never end.  Now, we don't know what to make of all of this water.  We've had so much rain this year that it's tempting to say that the drought  is over.  But no.  That might jinx it.

The rain certainly has been good for the lawns.  Grass is growing in spots where grass hasn't grown in a long time.  So, come on, let it rain.  Keep it coming, we can take it.

West Texas Grass Fires - A Sunday Afternoon's Adventure

A grass fire in dry West Texas can destroy a lot of vegetation if it gets out of control. So, when I saw one along a highway yesterday and saw how it was being dealt with I was a little surprised.

Sunday morning I was cruising East on I-20, and just east of Big Spring, Tx., a Howard County Sheriff's deputy's car whizzed past me. And, a couple of minutes later I began to see smoke blowing with the stiff Southerly wind, and as I got closer I could see that grass fires had broken out in three places along the Interstate.

As I approached I saw the deputy's car crossing the median toward the fire, and there was another deputy's car parked nearby. I continued driving East and then decided to take the next exit to double back to see what they were going to do. Before I reached the next exit a very old fire truck with only one person on board came speeding toward the fire from the opposite direction.

I eventually got to the exit and did the turnaround. Several minutes had passed by the time I arrived back in the area of the fires and there I saw the one firefighter lugging a hose from the truck about to fight the fire that was in the Interstate median - the farthest point North of the burning area. I would have thought she would have started on the fire that had already crossed the median and service road, but maybe firefighting protocol says to go with the wind, not against it.

Anyway, the deputy's car had pulled up beside another deputy's car, and it appeared the two were chatting with each other. Again, maybe that's part of the protocol. Sheriff's deputies fight crime, firefighters fight fires, and no one does the other's job. But, it looked to me as if the deputies could have pitched in a little bit by stomping on the flames or beating them with a blanket, or what about fire extinguishers? Surely a well equipped sheriff's deputy's car contains at least one fire extinguisher.

If you've gotten this far in the story you're probably saying to yourself "well, if you are going to be so judgmental about the other guys why the heck didn't YOU get out and stomp the gosh darn flames?" Well, the truth is it didn't even occur to me to do that until I was several miles away. And, I may have been a tiny bit intimidated by the do-nothing-deputies. But, stick with me, the story's not over yet.

At this point I was headed West, the opposite direction I wanted to go, so I went on to the next exit and did another turnaround to head East again. By the time I got back to the fire the one firefighter had just finished extinguishing one of the fires. And only one of the deputies remained watching from the safety of his car, the other being nowhere in sight. And the fire had reached the fence line beyond the road and was lapping up into the mesquite trees beyond the fence. I continued on my own journey encountering two more speeding fire trucks before reaching the next town.

I stayed in Abilene a few hours and left to return to Midland later in the day. Somewhere between Abilene and Big Spring I stopped at a roadside rest stop and by sheer coincidence I happened to notice a very serious sign there with all sorts of instructions and warnings for preventing prairie fires. It instructed to call 911 if a fire is spotted, get permission from the landowner before starting a fire, extinguish all flames completely and do not leave any smoldering embers. The sign was so earnest it would have brought swells of pride to Smoky the Bear.

I eventually arrived back at the original fire site around six hours after that original encounter. There were several blackened areas, and it looked like the fire had blacked an area South of the fence line, and there were a couple of blackened tree stumps along with several burnt limbs. But, the most intriguing feature was the smoking embers and four inch flames coming from two spots, a tree stump and a nearby limb. Both the stump and the burning part of the limb were a couple of feet above the ground, and the stiff wind was still blowing South. And, other than the cars zipping along the Interstate there was not a soul in sight. No firefighters, no deputies, just me.

Was that a dangerous situation? Could the fire have been spread by that strong wind? I happened to have two gallons of R.O. water in the car, so I lugged them out and dumped the water on the fire extinguishing the flames. Was that necessary? Well, I don't know. Maybe I saved half of Howard County from a prairie fire. Or maybe it would have eventually burned itself out on it's own as the firefighters must have assumed. But, I would have thought that competent firefighters wouldn't have left the area until they had put it out completely. Isn't that what Smoky told us?

Well, I don't know what would have happened. I'm either a good Samaritan or a busy body. I'll never know. And so ends my tale of a Sunday afternoon's adventure. And, if you're driving along I-20 East of Big Spring and see a fire charred area along the roadway, you'll know there's a story behind it.

Selling West Texas Water - NYT weighs in

The New York Times has published an article about the proposal by Rio Nuevo, Ltd., to lease water rights under far west Texas land owned by the state of Texas.

The Times mostly rehashes much of what we already knew, but there is some background about how it all came about, and the parts involving Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick make for interesting reading:

Mr. [Robert] Canon said that before he and Mr. [Steve] Cole founded Rio Nuevo, another Midland company, Mexco Energy, had bought an interest in a Falcon Bay oil and gas projects. Mr. Craddick, the House speaker, is a Mexco director, but Mr. Canon said that Falcon Bay and Rio Nuevo were separate entities and that Mr. Craddick had nothing to do with Rio Nuevo.

Mr. Craddick, too, said through a spokesman that he had no connection with Rio Nuevo. But he did not dispute accounts that he had urged Mr. [Jerry] Patterson and David Dewhurst, the land commissioner at the time and now the state's lieutenant governor, to meet with Rio Nuevo partners.

Ms. [Susan] Combs, the agriculture commissioner, said that around April 2002, Mr. [Gary] Martin approached her with an idea of marketing state water via the Rio Grande. It was folly, she said, because sending water into the river would entail large losses from evaporation.

Not long afterward and at the behest of Mr. Craddick, Mr. Dewhurst said, he met with Mr. Martin to discuss the project. Mr. Dewhurst, who was running for lieutenant governor, said he later returned a contribution from Mr. Martin when he learned the oilman had an issue pending before him as land commissioner. "I thought it was a terrible idea," Mr. Dewhurst said of the proposal.

Mr. Patterson said that at Mr. Craddick's urging, he, too, began meeting with the Rio Nuevo partners, even before he succeeded Mr. Dewhurst in January.

Then, in May, as the legislative session wound down, the Texas House and Senate passed a bill that would allow the Rio Grande watermaster to put into the river "privately owned water" for delivery to clients and directed the state's Commission on Environmental Quality "to expedite any application for a permit" to carry out the act.

Mr. Dewhurst said he remembered Rio Nuevo's pressing for such a bill, but said he did not focus on it during the session. Mr. Craddick's spokesman said the speaker had nothing to do with the bill.

(To see other items in this weblog about this issue click on "Water" either below or in the Categories column to the right and see the entries titled "Selling West Texas Water".)

Thanks to bad things for the NYT link.

Midland Flood Zones - the 100 year flood map

West Texas is still in a drought, so perhaps the lack of water might be what triggers mental images of an over abundance. I saw a computer generated map of the 100 year flood map of Midland last month, and I've been hoping for a way to display it on this website. But it doesn't look like that will be possible. For anyone interested, a hard copy of the map is available for purchase from the city for $20.

But, the easiest way to see it is to download the map in PDF form from the City of Midland website. Here's the link (PDF). Be patient, it's a hefty 1.82 MB. But, it's worth the effort.

It's fascinating to see a depiction of the Midland River snaking its way from the Northwest city limit down to Scharbauer Draw, and it looks like a lot of residential areas could experience some flooding. There was a flood on May 9, 1968, in Midland (for excerpts from the May 9 and 10, 1968, Midland Reporter-Telegram, go here), and that could have been the last local "100 year" flood. The article said that officials estimated from 500 to 700 homes were flooded. And, with a casual look at the 100 year flood map it's easy to see how that could result.

November 19 was GIS Day, and the Department of Development Services Planning Division of the City of Midland participated with demonstrations of what the geographic information services can do. (Go here for my report on that.) There is a lot of useful information available from the city. Here's a link to the index within the City of Midland website with links to some other city maps available for downloading. For example, there are maps showing water usage, zoning, voting precincts, city council districts, and others. There is a lot of information there. We are privileged that our city made the investment necessary to get this information system. And, the people working in that department are providing a valuable service.

I would like to give a special "Thank You" to Jeffrey W. Jordan, GIS Specialist with the city of Midland, for directing me to this wealth of information. Keep up the good work!

The Flood of '68

Bert9785 left a post at the KWEL radio forum the other day with four photos of the photos from the pages of the Midland Reporter-Telegram articles about the flood on May 9, 1968, here in Midland, Texas.  Unfortunately the link to that forum entry is no longer valid, but scroll to the end of this post for a link to the photos.  The old newspapers are on microfilm at the Midland Public Library, and the issues pertaining to that flood make for interesting reading. 

From the May 9, 1968, Midland Reporter-Telegram:

Cloudburst Floods Midland - Wind, Water, Hail Damage to be Heavy

Almost five inches of rain accompanied by damaging hail and whipped by high winds fell from angry storm clouds in a two hour period this morning and resulting flooding virtually paralyzed the city of Midland

Traffic was brought to a standstill in many sections of the city as streets turned into torrential rivers running floorboard high on parked cars.

Reports of flooding in both homes and business firms were common as the cloudbursts caused water to surge over curbs.  City crews were dispatched to several areas to place sandbags around homes to prevent further flooding. ...

To aid rescue and other operations, the Midland unit of the Texas National Guard was called out.  And since the storm did not hit Odessa badly, a number of Odessa emergency units came here to help. ...

Meanwhile, water surged over the top of automobiles on Midland Drive near its intersection with West U.S. 80, and a rescue truck drowned out attempts to rescue the occupants. 

Fire Department units were dispatched across the city to help rescue persons trapped in their cars by the flooding.  In some cases, the water was so high that even the fire trucks were flooded out.  Fire Chief Melvin Little called for extra men. ...

Hail as large as golf balls fell during the storm, breaking windows and striping leaves and branches from trees and shrubs.

And, the next day - from the May 10, 1968, Midland Reporter-Telegram:

Midland Mops Up After Storm - One Killed, Losses Run to Millions 

At least one man is dead, hundreds are homeless, and property damage is estimated in the millions of dollars in the wake of a vicious thunderstorm that roared through the Midland area Thursday afternoon.  Rains up to seven inches were measured.

A 46 year old Lubbock salesman was killed Thursday afternoon when his auto was washed off West U.S. 80 and into a drain running along the highway's south side.  Department of Public Safety officials pulled the body of H. D. Neighbors from the twisted wreckage of his auto about 3 p.m.

Midland police said from 500 to 700 homes - many of them in Midland's fashionable northwest section - had to be evacuated. ...

The rains flooded city streets and made driving dangerous.  Two Dallas men had a narrow escape on West U.S. 80 at the same time Neighbors was killed.  ...

The Dallas men carried on a conversation with Neighbors and both drivers decided to back up until the swift running water subsided.

The Dallas car backed up about 10 feet when a torrent of water came rushing across the highway. Both cars were swept into the draw.  Neighbors car was thrown into a railroad trestle and Neighbors was trapped inside. ...

One of the heroes of the storm was Narciso Navarette of 1303 E. Parker St., an employee of the city of Midland.  Navarette picked up about 30 persons and took them to his home.  Navarette's wife cared for them three or four hours until they could go back to their homes or to the homes of friends or relatives.  ...

B. C. Henderson, president of the Midland Association of Independent Insurance Agents said today  "There is neither insurance protection provided nor available to cover damage caused by flood or surface waters to buildings, structures or contents." ...

City officials estimated 10 to 12 inches of rain fell in parts of Midland.  The official weather bureau measurement at Midland-Odessa Regional Air Terminal was 4.75 inches - below the record of more than five inches for a 24 hour period recorded in 1934.

A spokesman for the Weather Bureau said, however, that the bureau's rain gauge overflowed during the pounding hail and rain and indicated that an accurate measurement may not have been made. 

A fascinating glimpse of a moment in the past. To see photos of the photos that appeared on the microfilm, click 1968 newspaper flood photos.

Selling West Texas Water (3)

Tuesday afternoon the School Land Board (SLB) held a meeting in an Alpine auditorium about the proposed lease between Rio Nuevo, Ltd., and the General Land Office (GLO) of the state of Texas for water rights in far west Texas. (Link to MyWestTexas.com). A template for a lease agreement was approved by the SLB, and the public was invited to comment.

"The highest and best use of these lands would be to develop the water underneath them," [GLO Commissioner Jerry] Patterson said in a recent column. "Texas schools could earn millions of additional dollars for textbooks and computers." ...

Rio Nuevo is proposing to pump around 50,000 acre feet a year -- a little more than 16 billion gallons -- from area aquifers.

Rio Nuevo partner Robert Canon estimated the company could sell the water at around $1,000 per-acre foot, giving 10 percent royalties to the State Land Board. ...

Canon estimated mining the water would reduce the total volume of the aquifers by 7.3 percent over 50 years. ...

But the farmers and ranchers in the audience, who say they are watching their wells go dry and their water tables drop, questioned Canon's numbers. ...

"I'm concerned with everyone hitching their wagons to those numbers," said Teresa Todd, a Presidio County attorney and member of the Far West Texas Water Planning Group, of Canon's presentation, noting the scarcity of information on many of the aquifers that would be affected.

Let's do some back-of-the-envelope math on those numbers. The estimate of 50,000 acre feet a year production sold at $1,000 per acre foot would yield $50 million a year gross revenue. And a 10% royalty would amount to $5 million for the SLB leaving $45 million per year before taxes and expenses for the partnership. But, that's not all. The El Paso Times reports the partnership is also looking to lease an additional 300,000 acres of privately owned land. So, Rio Nuevo, Ltd., has the potential for making some big bucks.

The El Paso Times article contains a bit more about the opposition at the meeting:

Bill Addington of Sierra Blanca said many West Texans, including his family, oppose exporting water to other parts of the state.

"This is a desert, and now they want to take water from here, which is a scarce resource, and market it to the highest bidder," said Addington, who also represented the El Paso Sierra Club at Tuesday's hearing.

Some of the people, including ranchers with families dating back three to six generations, complained that they had little information and notice about the proposal.

"This is the Chihuahuan Desert. On a map, it's always depicted as brown," Marfa Mayor Oscar Martinez said. "Leave our water alone. We're dry enough."

Additionally, the El Paso Times article said that two counties, El Paso and Brewster, have been dropped from the original six leaving four, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis and Presidio.

Common sense just begs for a hands-off-the-water approach. But, there simply isn't enough information currently available for the public to make a fair assessment. Hopefully, after they've gotten around to taking testimony from expert witnesses there will be a consensus opinion on just how the pumping of all of that water would alter the aquifer levels and what economic and environmental impact it would have on the area. And, will our taxes go up if the SLB doesn't get that revenue? Here's hoping that all the facts are known before a final decision is made.

Selling West Texas Water (2)

Yesterday afternoon the Far West Texas Water Planning Group's monthly meeting was held in Van Horn, and an AP article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram said that over 400 people attended along with a few representatives from the General Land Office. The major issue was the proposal by Rio Nuevo, Ltd., to lease water rights under a large land area owned by the State of Texas.

Land office officials assured people at the meeting that the water permits would still be issued locally and that the limited water supply wouldn't be threatened.

"We don't want to do anything that is going to wreck, to ruin, to leave waterless West Texas," said Bill Warnick, land office general council.

[Land office policy director Trace] Finley said Rio Nuevo doesn't have any buyers for the water and that it would start pumping water for export a year or two after it starts drilling test wells.

Rio Nuevo has offered a bonus check to be deposited in the Permanent School Fund when a lease is signed, and many in the crowd shouted out "bribe" when Finley discussed it.

For more background see this post, below, and Walsingham at Jessica's Well has some commentary about the issue as well.

It doesn't appear that any representatives from Rio Nuevo, Ltd., made it to the meeting which seems to suggests that they would have preferred that the deal be handled in the back offices of the state capitol rather than in a public forum. And it appears to me that there is so much opposition to this proposal that the partners of Rio Nuevo need to do some major league PR if they hope to convince the public that deal really is in the best interest of Texas.

As the old Texas saying goes: "Whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin'". Stay tuned.

Today is GIS day. What's that?

Today is Geographic Information Day:

GIS Day is a grassroots event that formalizes the practice of geographic information systems (GIS) users and vendors of opening their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of this important technology. The event is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, The Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and ESRI.

Geographic information systems are computerized tools that simplify the analysis of maps by allowing the overlaying of maps and areal photos along with the application of symbols to designate things that might not be visible in the areal photo, fire hydrants, for example.

The city of Midland participated at the Advanced Technology Center with a demonstration of the computerized maps and software used by city staff. And it was especially interesting to see the 100 and 500 year flood map overlay the map of the city.

On September 22 I commented about an article in the Wall Street Journal about the redrawing of the nations flood maps. As it turns out, the flood maps for the city of Midland are being updated constantly. (It's probably hard to resist tinkering with it when all of that technology is available).

But, it was especially interesting to see the city map with the 100 year flood map overlaid. By golly, there was a river flowing through the city! Some of the restaurants near the new drainage ditch north of the Target store look like they would be in the water. And several pockets within the city would encounter flooding, but I'm sure it is very benign compared to what might happen in cities like Houston or San Antonio.

Silly me. We should be so lucky. Here I am worrying about the 100 year flood when we are still in a terrible drought. Bring on the rain!

In any event, the technology was fascinating.

Selling West Texas' Water (1)

Residents in drought stricken west Texas are casting a skeptical eye toward the proposal of Rio Nuevo, Ltd., to enter into a lease with the General Land Office allowing the partnership to lease water rights in 646,508 acres of state land in six West Texas counties. The assumption is that they would pump the water out of the ground, pipe it and sell it to cities. The original proposal included a plan to dump the water into the Rio Grande River for transporting downstream, but that plan has been abandoned. Link to Austin American Statesman article.

The six counties are Brewster, El Paso, Presidio, Jeff Davis, Culberson and Hudspeth.

The plan has come under criticism from Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, according to the San Antonio Express News. And Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has named 11 senators to a Select Committee on Water Policy to examine the issue. And, a representative of the GLO is expected to be present at a meeting in Van Horn on November 20 of the Far West Texas Water Planning Group chaired by Alpine resident Tom Beard who is very much opposed to the plan. (Alpine Avalanche.)

It should be an interesting meeting. Water is a very precious commodity out here in the desert, so one has to expect that common sense will prevail. The west Texas underground water reservoirs and aquifers have to have been depleted during the drought, and any plan to export water from them is just plain lunacy.

For more about Rio Nuevo, Ltd., here's its composition according to the Austin American Statesman:

• Mike Ford, Midland, president, Falcon Bay Operating LLC

• Gary Martin, Midland, energy, investments

• Roger Abel, Austin, former president and CEO, Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s oil and gas subsidiary

• Robert Canon, Midland, Falcon Bay Operating LLC

• Steve Smith, Austin, investor; owns 25,000 acres, including a resort, in Lajitas

• Anthony Sam, Midland, vice president, Falcon Bay Operating LLC

• Steve Cole, Midland, Falcon Bay Operating LLC

• Kyle McDonnold, Midland, lawyer
  

Balmorhea - spring fed pool

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was go swimming in the spring fed pool at Balmorhea. What a treat! I had an occasion to go back there as an adult, and I was simply stunned at how much colder that water had gotten during the decades I had been away. Brrrrr.

Redrawing Nation's Flood Maps

According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) the U.S. has launched an effort to redraw the nations flood maps.

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency is about to launch an extensive nationwide effort to redraw the maps that predict where floods are likely to occur, a move that will have major financial implications for homeowners, property developers and the government-run flood-insurance program.
...
"Flooding is our most frequent and most costly hazard," says Anthony S. Lowe, director of the Mitigation Division at FEMA, which earlier this year joined the Department of Homeland Security. "These maps are used 25 million times a year," he says. "We're talking about a huge variety of people, from insurance professionals to folks in communities to decide where to locate their homes." Three-quarters of the 100,000 flood maps nationwide are over a decade old.
...
"New flood maps can create deep puddles for homeowners and real-estate developers. Landowners have a strong financial interest to keep the map lines off their property since being in a flood zone increases construction and insurance costs. Zoning ordinances often restrict development on land that falls in a mapped flood zone or require mitigation techniques such as keeping building heights two feet above where floods are common."

I have to wonder how that will affect those of us in drought stricken west Texas. I suppose the rains could come again some day. After all, our rainfall this year is currently 86% of normal - that's a lot of rain compared to recent years.

But, after years of drought water below ground has to have been depleted just as the above ground lakes have. So, it would seem that rain water would run off and soak up much faster.

Officially designated flood zones are a real nuisance. I don't know if any living person could recall a flood at the Midland Shooters Association rifle range southeast of Midland, but it is supposed to be in or near a flood zone. (Joe can tell a tale about the regulatory hoops that had to be jumped through before authorization could be obtained to build a new building and install a septic tank at that location.)

So, what would a new flood map of Midland County look like? I wish I knew, but hopefully the current flood zones will have shrunk.

Aside: Casual visitors to Midland like to chuckle at the rivers that rush down certain streets when it rains. But, it really is a very efficient and cheap way to disperse rain water. Well, okay, you can't go anywhere when it's happening. But, it's much better than the standing lakes that form within cities like Houston and San Antonio each time it rains.