Approaching record drought, Texas water districts consider oil and gas industry use

[marmar]

In the midst of the second-worst drought in Texas history, towns across the state are going to extreme measures to cope, capping residential water use, and limiting the number of days households can water their lawns. Earlier this week, the West Texas town of Kemp ran out of water. In Big Spring, the local water district is building a plant to recycle treated wastewater back into the drinking supply.

But oil and gas producers are injecting millions of gallons of freshwater into the ground at a time, with hydraulic fracturing jobs in every corner of the state, from once-abandoned oil fields in West Texas to the South Texas boom towns of the Eagle Ford Shale.

Even while downplaying risks of water contamination, industry officials have said the state’s water shortage could choke Texas’ growing natural gas industry, and some operators have begun preparing for tighter regulation of their water usage.

But with a patchwork of state agencies and local water conservation districts responsible for Texas’ water use — and state laws that exempt much of the oil and gas industry — it’s a mystery just how much water is being pumped into the ground for hydrofracking, or how the state could limit industry’s water use. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.americanindependent.com/198824/approaching-record-drought-texas-water-districts-consider-oil-and-gas-industry-use

[ClarkUSA]

1. Karma.

[underpants]

2. As a runner I see automatic watering systems running all the time and I repeatedly think

WHY?

Is it that damned important? Like car washing restrictions - who washes their car THAT MUCH?

[True Blue Democrat]

3. If anything at all, Texas should be raising taxes on the wasteful water

corporations, such as oil & gas.

Their water usage fees should be levied by 100,000%.

[louis-t]

4. Corporations are more important than people.

According to corporations.

[sammytko]

5. They have water - their delivery system is old and broken - same thing happened to my town

http://cedarcreekpilot.com/x850295794/Kemp-water-service-shut-down

If you read the article it talks about their old water pipes and well. My town went through the same thing last month. We have three wells, but only one was barely working. No money for repairs. Our city is poor and mis-managed. They finally fixed the one well and hopefully a federal grant is in the works to repair the rest.

http://www.ksat.com/weather/28396862/detail.html

We are on top of a huge aquifer - carrizo-wilcox. Same one that serves the oil fields. You can check the usage and see that we are using less water than we did a year ago - last August

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/gwrd/waterlevels/waterlevels.html