Friday, October 21, 2011

Drought and our water supply issues.


The North Texas Municipal Water District says that in order to break the current drought and increase our water supply to pre-drought levels we will need to receive a widely distributed rainfall of 12 - 15 inches in one month or 20 - 30 inches in a 6 month period.
 In SeSeptember the National Climatic Data Center, NOAA, estimated that the probability of receiving the needed rain fall in the next 6 months is 0 -7.11%. In other words, we will probably be enduring this drought for at least 6 more months or longer.
 Effective November 1, Stage 3 water restrictions will go into effect for most cities in the Metroplex. This means outdoor watering will only be allowed twice a month. Check with your city for details on allowed watering days.

This is a serious drought event. However, our water supply problems are also caused by the loss of Lake Texoma as a water source. Due to the invasion of the Zebra mussel into the waters of Lake Texoma the North Texas Municipal Water District lost 28% of the water supply. This has greatly intensified our water shortage.

Remember to water conscious at all times so that we can conserve this precious resource.
More to come on dealing with the Texas drought next week.