This month, Dr. Robert E. Mace explores academic publications on sequencing for measles detection in U.S. wastewater, the creation of a school-based virus alert system in Houston, and the identification of fecal contamination sources along the Texas Gulf Coast.
Author: Robert Mace
Robert Mace is the Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Geography at Texas State University. Robert has over 30 years of experience in hydrology, hydrogeology, stakeholder processes, and water policy, mostly in Texas.
outlook+water: Massive rains in the Hill Country, drought improvement, but the Edwards is still in drought
Drought conditions (D1–D4) decreased to 19% of the state from 30% of the state four weeks ago; statewide reservoir storage decreased to 79% full from 80% four weeks ago, about 4 percentage points below normal for this time of year. The El Niño Southern Oscillation remains in neutral conditions, which are favored through March. The rainfalls we saw in the Hill Country were at least one in 1,000-year events.
think+water: Water and the White Shaman, biochar and cucumbers, and a pain in the ash
This month, Dr. Robert E. Mace explores academic publications covering water’s role in indigenous cosmology, biochar’s ability to boost saturated hydraulic conductivity, and an invasive beetle species wreaking havoc on ash tree populations.
outlook+water: La Nada through March? drought shrinks, and rain bombs in the Hill Country
Drought conditions (D1–D4) decreased to 30% of the state from 39% of the state four weeks ago (and is surely lower after the early July rain bombs); statewide reservoir storage increased to 80% full up from 78% four weeks ago, about 4 percentage points below normal for this time of year. The El Niño Southern Oscillation remains in neutral conditions, which are favored through March. The recent rains in the Hill Country are not as rare as you might think.
think+water: Cities sinking, lakes sedimenting, and lower albedo’ing
This month, Dr. Robert E. Mace explores academic publications covering land subsidence in surprising Texan cities, sedimentation’s effects on reservoir firm yields, and low planetary albedo’s connection to aerosols and increased temperatures.