Draining Texas

 

 

"And we thought only the rain in Spain fell mostly on the plain..."

By now we all have heard or seen just how much rain Texas has received during the month of May. It was quite a dump for a state which not too many years ago had a severe drought. Now they don't know what to do with all that water.

So how much rain exactly did Texas receive? According to the National Weather Service, Texas received 37.3 trillion gallons of rain water during the month of May. And how much is 37.3 trillion gallons? It is enough to cover the entire state in 8 inches of water. This is not Rhode Island we are talking about - it is Texas, the second largest state in the union.

Some of that rain was needed to water the crops. Some was needed to replenish aquifers. Some was needed to keep rivers and streams at their proper levels. The rest was all run-off. A total waste of trillions of gallons of fresh water. Water that had it been captured, could have been used to help moisten the parched desert southwest. Water that could have been used in Texas later in the summer should the weather turn dry.

Most every year we seem to get a few spots in the country which receive a surplus of precipitation and others which are in some degree of drought. It seems a shame some of this surplus water cannot be captured. Truthfully, our only sources of water are what falls from the sky, are pumped out of reservoirs or aquifers, or manufactured from sea water. And as we know, the aquifers are not being replenished quickly enough and the reservoirs are dependent on normal precipitation.

One more statistic I heard on the radio about how much water 37.3 trillion gallons is. This may or may not be accurate, but I will report it anyhow. 37.3 trillion gallons is enough to supply every living person on this planet at least 8 ounces of water a day for 10,000 days. Even if that is partially true, it seems like such as waste to have most of that water be lost as run-off.

We should be able to figure out simple, affordable recapture methods for excess rainfall in this country. To me, and I may be all wrong on this, it would be a cheaper alternative to manufacturing fresh water out of sea water. Our day is coming when water will be like oil or gold. Before that time comes, it would be good to figure out the best way to recapture excess rain water. Without enough fresh and potable water, nothing much else in our country will matter.