This month we explore academic papers on the topics of exploring the effects of oil and gas production on groundwater and surface water in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, analyzing quality of produced water in the Permian Basin to understand feasibility for beneficial reuse outside the oil and gas industry, and using a statistical analysis to locate shifts in water use across urban and agricultural counties in the lower Colorado River basin of Texas.
Sections
outlook+water: 78% Of State in Drought, Drought Expected To Expand, Bois D’Arc Now Online
78% of the state is in drought with 88% at least abnormally dry. Some improvements over the last month, but drought is expected to re-expand to the entire state over the next three months. Bois D’Arc Lake in northeast Texas has come online with a conservation capacity of 367,609 acre-feet.
talk+water: Garry Merritt
Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief Dr. Todd Votteler interviews Garry Merritt, CEO of the Great Springs Project, about his work to create a greenway of contiguous protected lands between Austin and San Antonio over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.
law+water: Mike Gershon and James Muela
This month we explore issues on the topics of whether an interstate groundwater resource can be subject to the federal judicial remedy of equitable apportionment, whether a property owner asserted a viable claim for violation of the equal protection clause when he asserted that the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District treated him differently from other property owners, and the definition of “Waters of the United States,” and by association, the scope of the Clean Water Act.
think+water: Cedar Promotes Recharge, Irrigation Is Releasing Carbon, and Farmers Prefer LEPA
This month we explore academic papers on the topics of determining how Ashe juniper affects infiltration of water into the subsurface, assessing how irrigation loads dissolved calcium and bicarbonate to agricultural fields, and evaluating water conservation and economic profitability of agricultural production of cotton in the High Plains of Texas.