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Originally Posted by RWebb
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The epic drought of 2011 did a lot of damage. Millions of dead trees, lost crops, dead cattle, etc. etc. Parts of East TX got some reprieve in 2012 but most of the state, if not still in extreme drought conditions is heading that way and the long range forecast is more drought. One of the main drivers of the current economic boom is the Eagle Ford, Barnett and soon to be Cline Shale plays for oil/gas. Unfortunately all these areas are drought prone, currently in extreme drought and as fracking takes massive amounts of water which will come from where ??
The worst drought was the near 7 year drought in the 1950s when the population was probably 20% of what it is now. If this drought even approaches that one?
As the article says, the weather here can be brutal. I've lived here 67 years and seen tornadoes, dust storms that turned the sky red, hail the size of softballs, hurricane force winds, severe droughts, and huge flash floods.
The state passed a 50 year water plan I believe it was back the the 1990s which was designed to assure TX water supplies. Unfortunately, the legislature didn't seem to realize you actually have to fund these things (not to mention being bogged down with such emergency legislation over the years as voter ID, stopping planned parenthood funding, being sure only abstinence is taught in sex ed classes and all those other social problems we have. But fear not, they just passed to bill to start some funding of water projects, of course they will take years to implement. Hell, they may even do something about highway funding one of these days instead of just defaulting to toll roads.
This could turn into a real rant so stop I will....