Recharged by plentiful winter rain, North Texas aquifers that dropped like a rock during last year's record drought are being replenished. But across much of the state, worries persist about depleted underground water levels, experts say.
Jack Watts, a Fort Worth water well driller who was scrambling to punch replacement wells and lower pumps in residential "straws" last summer, said area aquifer levels are the highest he's seen in at least six years."It's not near as hot; they've bounced back. Not having to water in the winter really helped and people aren't using as much this summer," said Watts, who has been monitoring local aquifers for decades.He thinks a slowdown in natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale is also contributing to the rising water levels.But across Texas, where millions of people rely on wells for drinking water and crop irrigation, there are still nagging worries, said Larry French, director of groundwater resources for the Texas Water Development Board."It's a mixed bag. We're not as bad as last summer, but quite a bit of the state is still dry," he said. "We continue to watch it closely; there are certain areas of the state that remain a concern."In West Texas and the Panhandle, which haven't had significant rains, groundwater managers are keeping their fingers crossed, said Kathy Jones, president of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts."They never left conservation modes and they are very concerned this season," she said.Each week, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland generate groundwater and soil moisture indicators. The latest of the experimental satellite maps show aquifer storage across a large swath of Texas still near 60-year lows, Matthew Rodell, a hydrologist based at Goddard, said Monday."After a prolonged drought like you've had there, aquifers generally take a long time to bounce back from significant depletion," he said. "The soil moisture has recovered, but the deeper groundwater needs a lot of drenching rain to really recharge those aquifers."The July 9 map also reflects the impact of the punishing heat wave that has been burning across much of the country. In New Mexico and Colorado in particular, aquifer depletion has sped up this summer."When there is extreme heat like that, you are sucking the moisture out of the land and it also causes people to pump more," Rodell said.Abnormally dryNot a sliver of Texas in now in the exceptional stage of drought, but 96 percent is abnormally dry and 77 percent remains in moderate drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor. But heavy rains inundated areas around Houston and Austin in recent days, so those percentages should retreat this week.Last month, the Edwards Aquifer Authority for the first time declared Stage 4 mandatory pumping reductions for users in Uvalde County. In San Antonio, Stage 2 restrictions are in place on the aquifer, which provides water for nearly 2 million people.The Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District in Boerne declared Stage 4 restrictions July 9, general manager Micah Voulgaris said."Water levels are very similar to last year," he said, noting that current restrictions mandate a 30-percent reduction in pumping and limit outdoor watering to one day a week.David Van Dresar, manager of a Fayette County groundwater district and vice president of the state alliance, said aquifers that serve urban areas have suffered the most stress."Our problem now is that recent rains have greened things up, but that doesn't mean we are out of a drought. It doesn't mean there's been enough precipitation to recharge aquifers. The surface gets the first drink," he said.In the Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District, conditions have eased considerably, general manager Ron Fiesler said. "Our monitoring wells are slowly trending downward, not like last year when they really dropped."Meanwhile, a handful of tiny municipal water systems around Texas remain in danger of tapping out their supplies, said Andrea Morrow, spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.Spicewood Beach and Florence could run out in 45 days or less, and 12 other systems are in danger of going dry within 90 days. A hodgepodge of problems ranging from mechanical issues, low stream flows and depleted wells are troubling the systems, Morrow said."The remedies vary depending on the problem. We're working with those systems to identify ways to increase their supplies," she said.Reservoirs supplying the Tarrant Regional Water District were at 91 percent capacity Monday, according to the district's website. In early May, the district lifted restrictions instituted in late August that had limited landscape watering to two designated days per week. Watering restrictions were started after reservoir levels dropped to 75 percent of capacity. Lake levels dropped as low as 67 percent before unusually plentiful winter rains.Reservoirs managed by the Lower Colorado River Authority in Central Texas are only 49 percent full. However, Austin eased watering restrictions to Stage 1 on Monday.Watt said he's not getting the desperate calls of last year when wells ran dry, but he has seen an uptick in the number of people with municipal water service adding wells to their properties."The rates have gone up and when their water bill runs $1,100 to $1,500 a month in the summer, they can pay off a well in four or five years," he said.That trend doesn't sit very well with Pete Baldwin of Aledo, who had to lower his pump to the bottom of his well last summer to keep from running dry."People doing that are taking water from people who don't have any other options," he said."Whoever has the highest pump loses at this point. I just don't see habits changing that much; people are still watering heavily. We have to adapt to our water availability."Steve Campbell, 817-390-7981