In Texas, surface water is owned and regulated by the State of Texas, whereas groundwater is owned by respective property owners under the rule of capture. Owners of surface water rights, issued by the state, and groundwater may use and sell their water as a private property right. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality administers […]
Water and wastewater industry leaders in Texas and throughout the United States have expressed concern over high rates of retirement eligibility and difficulties finding and attracting workers ready to fill job openings, especially for work in smaller systems. In late January 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report on water workforce readiness and […]
As Texas cities experience an increase in incidents associated with water quality contamination, the need for public education and engagement increases. The discussion in this paper identifies, based on publicly available data, three of the most common incidents in Texas related to drinking water and environmental contamination: boil water notices (BWNs), sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), […]
This article will introduce the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network and illustrate its integration into the daily operations at the National Weather Service West Gulf River Forecast Center (WGRFC). An example will be shown on how the data were used during a specific flood event and will illustrate our extensive use of […]
This study includes thermodynamic and economic analyses of a seawater reverse osmosis (RO) plant integrated with a small-scale combined cycle natural gas (CCGT) plant ranging from 36–71 megawatts (MW). These analyses model electricity produced by the CCGT plant as power for the RO plant or for sale to the power grid. These analyses consider the […]
The Ogallala Aquifer extends beneath eight states in the Great Plains region of North America. It stretches from Texas to South Dakota and is among the largest aquifers in the world. In Texas, extraction of groundwater, primarily for cropland irrigation, far exceeds recharge resulting in a significant decline of the water table. In the Texas […]
Groundwater is a strategic economic asset, and recent Texas Supreme Court decisions have strengthened private ownership rights in groundwater. Despite the economic and political stakes, debate on how to actually value groundwater has been sparse. In response, this article sets forth seven methods of economically valuing groundwater in Texas and uses case studies and hypotheticals […]
A pipeline to pump water from the Nueces River to the upper delta at Rincon Bayou was constructed to mitigate the reduction of inflow from impoundments. Pumping has restored ecological function to the Nueces Estuary by increasing inflow and decreasing salinity, and transitioned the marsh into a positive estuary (lower salinities upstream increasing downstream towards […]
In the aftermath of flooding disasters, a temptation is to pursue recovery while also dismissing the event as unlikely to recur. Is it possible that underlying streamflow trends, which often avoid detection, help explain individual flooding episodes and should influence future expectations? How do impoundments (dams) affect these trends? Our study provides a comparative analysis […]
I once heard that water should not be considered a human right but a survival right. This simple statement can change the paradigm in which international law evolves toward the construction of an international groundwater legal framework, which today is nonexistent. As Professor Gabriel Eckstein describes in his most recent contribution to the law of […]
