Sleepless in Midland

Hike your house or take a hike -- some Houston homeowners are raising their houses in prep for the next flood

The problem is frequent heavy rains and poor water drainage. And homeowners are paying the price. Texastribune.org tells us that some homeowners are paying big bucks for a house lift. See Six figures for six feet: Some Harvey victims in Houston spend huge sums to elevate their homes. Excerpt:

In Harris County, homeowners who received letters from the city stating that the cost of repairing their home would equal or exceed 50 percent of its pre-Harvey market value are also required to meet current floodplain regulations by elevating — or risk being ineligible for flood insurance and future FEMA assistance.

Jamila Johnson, Houston’s floodplain manager, said the city sent out 1,944 “substantial damage” letters to homeowners as of early February and plans to send out more.

Homeowners who receive these letters can appeal the designation.

After Harvey, Houston Public Works proposed regulations that would double the required elevation for homes in the 100-year floodplain to three feet above the base flood elevation.

Johnson said the proposed regulations are based on a changing understanding of rainfall patterns in the area.

“We’re seeing bigger rains more often,” Johnson said. “A 500-year event will probably be considered a 100-year event in the future, so the city is moving to regulate them the same way. We’ve seen that these regulations help — even in an event as disastrous as Harvey. But they don’t work on homes that aren’t compliant.”

Sounds like a horrible dilemma. Arkitektura Development, Inc., is a company that will lift a house. Click on Portfolio of Recent Elevation Projects for some photos of what a lifted house looks like.

It's not cheap. Some homeowners have opted to demolish their houses, move, and try to sell the land where the houses once sat.

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1:57 PM 3/19/2018

Houston just took a big hit as migrant magnet

The city of Houston and surrounding communities have been magnets for companies and individuals for decades. That's about to change.

Harris County has had a flood problem for a long time. Any heavy rain, which they have plenty of without a hurricane, typically results in street flooding. It may not have been obvious to those people in other states who sought a new locale. But with Harvey in the headlines, it is now.

Furthermore, residents in our little city of Midland, Texas, see local taxing entities hike their taxes every year without some calamity as an excuse. Residents in Harris County and the city of Houston are sure to see their taxes sky rocket even without talk of fixing the constant problem of water runoff.

Dallas and Austin got a big boost from this. People and companies looking for a Texas city governed by Democrats will gravitate to those cities over Houston for years to come.

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10:59 AM 9/1/2017

Quicksand in California or liquefaction on the freeway

Liquefaction is a very interesting, and earthy, problem. The word is usually connected to earthquakes, with a dirt and water mixture shaken to produce a slime. But it happened the other day in California. They called it a mud slide, but the result was the same -- vehicles encased in solid dirt.

See some amazing photos at Dailymail.co.uk in 'A raging river of mud': Hundreds of cars and trucks completely CONSUMED by 6ft-deep California mudslide. My favorite is the one showing two guys standing on solid soil looking down at a tractor trailer half consumed by the earth.

What do the mosquitoes know that we don't -- they don't lay eggs in Midland tap water

Midland, Texas, and surrounding areas have been in a drought for quite a while, although there have been periods of reprieve from time to time. Lately the rains have been a refreshing relief.

The water that falls from the sky is relatively pure, presumably only affected by the airborne contaminants. But water from the tap originally came from the ground and contains whatever it picked up while under there. Plus it has been heavily treated by the municipal water department. Some residents drink it, but most buy bottled water or have their own reverse osmosis system filtering it before they consume it.

Recently some rain water got captured in a bucket in my back yard. There's also a bucket of tap water back there for the foxes and other feral animals. Here's the thing. The other day I noticed mosquitoes flying around the rain water bucket, and inside there were larva swimming all around. I dumped it immediately. But there were none in the tap water bucket. What do the mosquitoes know that we don't?

Perhaps it's the arsenic in the water supply.

Another El Nino -- bring it on

Nothing helps alleviate drought conditions quite like a good old fashioned El Nino. And almost as if on cue, here comes the next one:

An El Niño that is among the strongest on record is gaining strength in the Pacific Ocean, and climate scientists say California is likely to face a wet winter. “There’s no longer a possibility that El Niño wimps out at this point. It’s too big to fail,” said Bill Patzert, climatologist for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.

“And the winter over North America is definitely not going to be normal,” he said. ...

Scientists know that El Niño is getting stronger because of rising sea-level ocean temperatures in the Pacific west of Peru, and a change in directions of the wind along the equator that allow warm waters to surge toward the Americas.

California needs this. And Texas can always use more rain, especially the desert parts. So bring it on.

Refill the duck pond with its own water

This would make a great cartoon if only I could draw. Sigh.

Picture this. It's a government person sitting in a boat in a pond. He scoops out a bucket of water, then empties it on the other side of the boat. A duck floats by and asks, "What are you doing?" He says, "The pond is going dry, so I'm filling it up." 

That's basically what's happening with the duck pond at Wadley Barron Park in Midland, Texas. The local paper has been all over this. Seems that the city is in the process of drilling a couple of water wells near the pond with the stated purpose of refilling the pond to historic levels. The problem is that the pond if merely the visible part of the reservoir that sets the pond water level. So pumping water from the ground nearby simply takes from the same reservoir and puts it back by way of the pond.

Those of us with trees that nourish themselves from the underground water worry that eventually all the local people who are pumping water from that reservoir to dump on their yards will eventually deplete the reservoir and kill our trees. We talked about this a year ago as we worried about the undesirable consequences of too many straws sucking out of the same soda.

But that's life in the desert when people think it's an oasis.

Hey, here's an idea! Much of the water that comes out of our faucets is pumped from lakes several miles away. Those lakes are depleting too, so maybe we could form a bucket brigade. Fill up the buckets from our faucets, then pour it back into the lake. Repeat until full.

City government: Sorry we made you use less water, now can you please pay for the water you didn't use?

Oh the irony of unintended consequences.

They cajoled, they scolded, they threatened, they raised the rates. The Midland, Texas, city leaders did all they could to get residents to use less water due to the shrinking reservoirs and the on-going drought. It worked. People took the matter seriously and curtailed their water usage like the good citizens they are.

Now the city is crying because the revenue from the residents' water bills isn't high enough.  The bureaucratic solution is to make residents pay more to make up for the short fall. So now citizens have to pay for the water they didn't use. Sigh. The citizens just can't catch a break.

Sometimes the jokes write themselves. If I weren't so lazy I would learn how to draw cartoons:

First panel: Mayor looking straight out at you and saying earnestly: "We are very proud of our ability to take a long range view and solve potential situations before they develop into problems."

Second panel: Mayor looking through the wrong end of a telescope at a glass of murky water. "It's half empty. No, it's half full. No wait, it's half empty."

Third panel: Mayor looking earnest again: "There is no temporary crisis that can't be cured by a permanent hike in your taxes, fees, and rates. You can thank us later."

Move over Garry Trudeau.

Peak water -- pumping it dry

Took the scenic route through a neighborhood yesterday and noticed a lot of activity at one house. The subject of all that activity was a shallow well drilling rig on a truck hovering over a patch of yard. Today the thing you see in this photo is what was left behind.

It's the head of a water well. And the house right next door has one, too. One wonders if they are in competition -- the race is on to see who can get the last drop.

The underground water reservoir is exhaustible, and the more people drawing from it the quicker it will shrink. Eric touched on this same topic in Water Musings. The only relief will be in the form of rain, which these days is a scarce commodity.

And if the summer is as dry as forecast, then we'll see deep rooted trees, which get their nurture from the reservoir, show drought stress just like they did last year. And the "A" street duck pond will get smaller just like it did last year. But this time we'll get to see what the difference is with all those straws sucking from the same soda.

Water wars - the Feds and Mexico vs Texas

You have to live in drought condition to fully appreciate the experience: Watching trees, grass and gardens suffer, fearing the inevitable wildfires fueled by dead vegetation, and the constant focus on ways to make what little water there is last.

Now we've got Texas agencies battling the federal government to hold onto water flowing down the Rio Grande. A federal agency called the Texas and the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), run by Obama appointee Edward Drusina, has proposed an early release of water from the Rio Grande to help Mexico with its drought problems.

Commissioners from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Department of Agriculture have protested with a press release -- see Commissioners Staples, Rubinstein Request Federal Action to Rescind Water Delivery to Mexico That Harms Drought-Stricken Texans (4/4/2012) and a letter to IBWC -- see Dear Commissioner Drusina. Excerpt:

Our interpretation of the 1906 Convention does not entitle Mexico to receive water whenever they call for it. ...

... It appears that your decision to deliver water to Mexico under the current circumstances is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the Convention, and results in the protection of Mexico’s citizens at the expense of U.S. citizens, namely those who rely on Rio Grande Project water.

Comparing the U.S. Section of the IBWC on the unresolved issues noted above to your response to Mexico’s call for water, we are gravely concerned that the 1906 Convention is being implemented in a way that discriminates against U.S. water users. We respectfully urge you to resolve these issues in a manner that restores the confidence of Texas water users in the U.S. Section of the IBWC.

Doesn't it seem as though President Obama takes the side against the state of Texas at every opportunity? Maybe it's supposed to bring us in line.

Lawn Lions - West Texas New Grass

Out here in drought plagued Midland, Texas, the air is dry, the ground is hard and the soil is barren, except for some hardy plants that seem to defy the lack of water and laugh at the drought.

They used to be called weeds, a weed being a plant that is growing in the wrong place. But with no water for lawns, a hardy weed that can thrive in this harsh environment has earned the right to live, and in the case of the Dandelion, respect for simply surviving.

"Dandelion" sounds so weak for such a tough plant. Maybe "Lawn Lion" is a better newspeak moniker for this former weed, this tough survivor.

There was a time not so awfully long ago when the nanny-crats would send stern letters threatening fines if homeowners tried to let their yards go back to nature. But in light of the severe water rationing, homeowners are damned if they water their lawns and damned if they let their land go native. The municipal code just keeps getting bigger. They don't weed out the obsolete rules, and we are at the mercy of the code enforcers' discretion. But maybe, just maybe they'll relax their vigilance this season and enjoy the new look of the land.

Lawn Lion. The king of the back yard jungle.

MRT on MDC

The Midland Reporter Telegram contained a front page article that should have been a wake up call to complacent taxpayers. See Economic development tax: 10-year review detailing what the Midland Development Corporation has done and not done. In sum, they've taken in millions of dollars from taxpayers with negligible results in regard to industry diversification and job creation.

The anonymous bloggers at Jessica's Well have been hammering away at this for years, and back in '09 I suggested they get out of the house and take the initiative to get the tax repealed. Although I did acknowledge that it might be difficult getting signatures on a petition if they had bags over their heads. But the MRT has outed them. Problem solved. Ditch the bags.

As for what they need to do, the one called Ospurt left a comment on these pages with a link to a site purporting to lay out the procedure for accomplishing just that. There should be no stopping them now.

The Midland Development Corporation has a flashy website that's sure to draw in lots of lookie loos. But here's my favorite part:

Water
Midland has a more-than-ample water supply, and the water needs of industry and residents are met by both underground and surface water sources. The City of Midland controls 700,000 acre feet of underground water resources. The Colorado River Municipal Water District includes the O.H. Ivie Reservoir, Lake Spence and Lake Thomas, which combined contain 65.9 square miles of surface water.

Glad they cleared that up. Citizens are facing a $500 fine for accidentally spilling water onto the street, and here we learn Midland has a more-than-ample water supply. Someone needs to tell the city council.

Washed up feet mystery solved

This has been a baffling mystery -- why have severed feet been washing up on the upper West Coast shore? A total of twelve feet washed up on the shores of Canada and Washington state in the past four years with the most recent one last August.

An educated guess may have been proven correct. The theory was that a human body would come apart over time in the ocean, and feet strapped in light weight sneakers might eventually get washed ashore.

The theory was confirmed as two of the feet have been identified as belonging to female who committed suicide by jumping off a New Westminster, B.C., bridge in 2004 wearing New Balance shoes.

Four people have been identified so far.

It might be too much to expect potential bridge jumpers to put light weight sneakers on their to-do list. But there have been so many cruise ship passengers overboard lately people planning a cruise should certainly take note.

"Honey, be sure to pack some light weight running shoes for our honeymoon cruise."

"Why, will we be jogging?"

"No, in case you go overboard, your feet might wash up. By the way, did you sign that life insurance form?"

"The wedding is off."

One more thing about that new watering regulation

There's no sunset provision. They've proposed a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Surely this drought will end some day, but you wouldn't know it by the council's actions. Once passed it's going to be on the books forever. For an example of an ancient ordinance see Listening in on the police radio? Shhhh, don't tell anyone about a 1953 ordinance about listening to radio scanner feeds that's still on the books after all this time.

OK, if you've just stumbled onto this blog here's what we are talking about. The other day the Midland, Texas, city council voted into place an ordinance allowing the Code Enforcement employees to issue tickets without warning to residents who accidentally allow water to run into the street. See Everyone is a potential criminal, they just don't know it previously about the omission of a requirement to warn potential offenders before issuing the $500 citation.

Residents have not yet been given access to the wording of the ordinance. Maybe the meeting minutes, once they go online, will contain the full ordinance. But so far the only thing available at the city website is the Agenda results PDF for the 9/27/11 council meeting. Here's what it says:

MISCELLANEOUS
41. Consider an ordinance amending Title VI, "Police Regulations", Chapter 1, "General Offenses”, Section 19, "Nuisance Water", of the City Code of Midland, Texas, so as to prohibit nuisance water in the public streets; containing a cumulative clause; containing a savings and severability clause; providing for a maximum penalty or fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00); and negating a mental state; and ordering publication. (Code Administration)
APPROVED

Once it's written into the code, Midland residents will be stuck with it for generations to come. On the bright side, that might generate a new source of part time jobs for school kids -- lawn watchers to warn residents if water spills into the street.

Addendum --

Reading that agenda is an eye opener. They've approved hundreds of thousands of dollars of spending on polymer, Earthtec, anhydrous ammonia, potassium permanganate, aluminum sulfate and chlorine all for treating drinking water. But here's the speck of gold in the pan of sand. They approved a resolution to advertise for bids for a raw water project. Those of us who have been conserving water for years have long wondered why, out here in the middle of the desert, every drop of water delivered to residences is "drinking water" whether it's for washing the dog, watering the garden, or flushing down the toilet. Finally, after experiencing real water shortages, they've gotten around to that.

If your clothes smell fresh, you are using too much water

Sleepless in Midland's highest paid reporter was scrounging for breakfast in the dumpster near city hall this morning when she discovered a discarded memo from the Colorado River Authorization Protocol to the mayor. Since it was in the garbage we can assume it's public information. So here it is in full:

To: Mayor, City of Midland
From: Colorado River Authorization Protocol
Date: September 27, 2011

Re: Midland is using too much water

The drought situation has us all concerned, and some of you have been using too much water. In that regard, we would like to offer suggestions for some new rules to help you get your citizens in line, as follows.

If your clothes smell fresh, you are using too much water. If you raise public awareness that body odor is OK people will quit wasting water washing clothes. Failing that, you could purchase trained dogs for your Code Enforcers to sniff crowds at the mall and other public gatherings for citations and fines.

Furthermore, citizens should end their use of showers and minimize their use of bath tubs. One tub of water per week should be sufficient for a family of four in the summer. One tub per month in the winter.

In California some years back there was a popular slogan regarding flushing toilets. "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." We are definitely opposed to that. All toilet flushing should be illegal. And we propose a new slogan:

"If it's yellow, water the flowers. If it brown, bury it in the ground."

Young people are always looking for unique phrases, and we believe this slogan should catch on quickly.

We feel that these proposals will result in significant water conservation. And if your citizens don't comply we will simply shut off your water.

We're from the government, and we're CRAP.

And there you have it. Straight from the dumpster to your monitor.

Drought Porn

Pornography -- visual images of things the viewer will never have the opportunity to do.

To thirsty Texans in the drought zones and the wildfire areas this video of a giant water balloon fight might well be pornography. Youtube link.

175,141 Water Balloons.

Via UKCSF.org via Newslite.tv.

Dams and the resulting reservoirs may reduce rainfall

Here's an interesting report that says large dams can alter local climate and rainfall.

The theory is that a given volume of water spread throughout tributaries would have a surface area larger than the same amount of water dammed up in a reservoir. Therefore, the water in the reservoir would evaporate at a slower rate, and there would be less moisture in the air to aid in the formulation of rain.

Climate scientists have taken a huge credibility hit from from their global warming scare tactics. But this makes sense.

According to the City of Midland, Texas, website, water is supplied to the city by lakes Thomas, Spence, and Ivie. Conceivably these man-made lakes themselves could have contributed to the drought problems in West Texas. But with the lakes drained from both evaporation and pumping, their surface areas can't be very large.

So when they are gone will that mean more rain? Well, with no rain the tributaries are dry, too. And the moisture has to come from somewhere. So when forecasters say our best chance of rain is from the hurricanes then they may be onto something.

But what's this? Lake Ivie must have gotten a spot of rain last night. It's almost back to the level it was four days ago. Fill up the tub, it's bath time for Bonzo!

Well well well, a sign of the times

Drought plagued Midland, Texas, is really struggling to quench the thirsty plant life. As others have been telling us for years, large grassy lawns don't have a place in the desert except in the most fluid of times.

With citizens across the town aware of the new move toward conservation, many are adjusting their water usage. This self conscious homeowner wants to deflect any criticism for watering his/her lawn.  Or maybe it's just bragging.

But it's a sign of the times.

Meanwhile, the Midland Reporter-Telegram editorialized early this month against the proposal to fine citizens for watering lawns on the wrong day. And in short order, that punishment threat was dropped. That's getting it done.

And the homeowners who have conserved water for years are finally seeing a small social benefit -- a respite from parched lawn complainers.

Flooding in Australia

Old pal GR resides about 100 kilometers South of Brizzy (Brisbane, Australia), and he forwards this link to a video of some of the flooding the Aussies experienced on January 10, 2011.

The photographer is in an office building in Toowoomba overlooking what appears to be a drainage ditch. The ditch soon becomes a raging river overlapping the parking lot. Click to go directly to the Youtube site.

Toowoomba appears to be 126 highway kilometers West of Brizzy, according to this Google map.

Thanks, GR. Tie your kangaroo down, sport.

Clayton Williams says "shut up" the American way. He sues.

There was a scene in the movie "Repo Man" in which the good guys got in a beef with a gang of ruffians, and they met under a freeway for an old fashioned "West Side Story" rumble. The two sides trash talked and made all sorts of threats. But then one of them threatened to sue, and that was a knockout punch. Not a blow was struck by anyone, but they all mulled that threat, grumbled, and quietly got in their cars and drove away.

It was hilarious. But that seems to be the American way. To settle an issue file a suit.  Sue critics to end the discussion.

So we have local entrepreneur Clayton Williams suing Fort Stockton Mayor Rueben Falcon for libel per se and slander per se for something Mr. Falcon allegedly told the Fort Stockton Pioneer and the Midland paper in an ongoing battle over water rights. (A Google search for the phrases quoted in petition paragraph 12(b) didn't return the offending article.)

However, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reports on the suit. And John Boyd's blog has the plaintiff's petition.

Locals love Mr. Williams. He's philanthropic and employs a lot of people. But the irony meter is on 11. Some people out there might be old enough to remember when Clayton Williams ran for Texas governor, and they might recall thinking that Mr. Williams the politician might have had a shot had he been able to keep his own mouth shut.

Then there's that little issue of Mr. Williams having taken almost 800 grand in government farm subsidies. It's give and take, so who knows? Maybe with the philanthropy it will all balance out in the end.

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