The Shape of Droughts to Come
A new book asks if Texans, long accustomed to harrowing dry spells, are ready for the harrowing dry spells in our future.
Aside from weather, water is probably the most-discussed topic in Texas (and no wonder, as the two are inextricably linked). Disputes over water—where it comes from, how much we charge for it, who gets it—concern everyone from the governor and the legislature to farmers, ranchers, civilians, environmental groups, and corporations looking to profit off of it. It’s a topic so important that in 2012, after a severe dry spell left the majority of the state in exceptional drought, we dedicated an entire issue that traced the state’s history with water back four thousand years and attempted to look forward to the uncertain future of the resource.
A new book asks if Texans, long accustomed to harrowing dry spells, are ready for the harrowing dry spells in our future.
They've been without clean water for decades. How is this still the case in 2016?
They seem to happen a lot more often than once a century, for one thing.
In the month of May alone, enough rain fell on Texas to cover the state in eight inches of water.
In the midst of a storm that brought heavy rains and flash flooding to parts of Central Texas, a herd of cattle was swept away from their pasture.
When you live in the desert, waiting for rain requires almost irrational optimism. And maybe a curse word or two.
Texas A&M researches and students continue to address the many water issues facing our state, nation and world. Click here to watch the video!
How a big chunk of East Texas might end up underwater to keep Dallas swimming in growth potential.
A hellish drought has forced Wichita Falls to embrace a radical method of conservation: drinking treated toilet water.
The Legislature was looking in the wrong place when it tried to solve the state’s water crisis.
Remember the 2012 Water Plan? Now it's being discussed in legislature. We'll bring you up to speed.
TEXAS MONTHLY partnered with StateImpact Texas and KUT News to take a close look at how the state can manage a growing population amid a shrinking water supply. Listen to reports from NPR’s John Burnett, Texas state photographer Wyman Meinzer, and more audio and online reports.
As much as anything, the Texas economic miracle depends on water. Lots of water. So what are all those power plants, refineries, and factories going to do as the state gets drier and drier and drier?
The future is likely going to require us to move large amounts of water from wet but sparsely populated places (a.k.a. East Texas) to thirsty, booming cities. Good thing there’s a plan for that. There is a plan, right?
Over the past year, state photographer Wyman Meinzer has roamed the Big Empty, documenting the drought’s toll. Will he ever take another pretty picture?
Bad as the current drought is, it has yet to match the most arid spell in Texas history. Nearly two dozen survivors of the fifties drought remember the time it never rained.
The Lower Pecos River rock paintings were created four thousand years ago by a long-forgotten people. But their apparent message may be as useful today as it was then: Follow the water.
As last year’s historic drought reminded us, Texas has always lived life by the drop, just a few dry years away from a serious crisis. With our population expected to nearly double over the next fifty years, this situation is about to become more, not less, challenging. This month we
And you’re going to need it, eventually, since Texas’ most precious natural resource is being depleted at an alarming rate. His plan is to pump vast amounts from his land in the Panhandle and pipe it to parched cities like El Paso and San Antonio—for a hefty price, of course.
More than 300 million trees died in Texas in 2011 due to extreme drought conditions
For more than 75 years, rice farmers in Matagorda County and elsewhere along the Gulf have shared the waters of the Colorado River with urban residents in the Hill Country. But with city centers booming and an almost-certain drought ahead, the state is being forced to choose between a water-intensive
Texas has the country’s most precise state water plan. So how is it that every one of our major cities is still on track to run dry in the next fifty years?
When the City of Marshall wanted to pump millions of gallons of water out of Caddo Lake and sell them to the highest bidder, the state said, "Sure." Residents of Karnack, Uncertain, and other tiny northeast Texas towns said, "Hell, no." Guess who prevailed (for now)?
Battles over the river’s precious waters are pulling in everyone from pecan growers in Central Texas to shrimpers in Matagorda Bay, not to mention thirsty cities like San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Who will be left high and dry?
Trans-Pecos ranchers grapple with El Paso over the West’s most valuable resource.
The cattle are dying, the grass is gone, the ranchers are selling their land. The center of Texas is in a drought that may be the worst in a hundred years.