A small puddle outside of a Texas Tech building. Photo by Melanie Escalante.
By Melanie Escalante
As temperatures warm, and the climate crisis brings more frequent and extreme weather events, experts say the Southwestern U.S. can expect the water crisis to persist — and even worsen as time goes by.
With groundwater levels in Lubbock dwindling and the region entering its second year of severe drought, continuing in winter months, what does that mean for the High Plains water supply?
Stephanie Brady, communications director for the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, said the depletion of groundwater makes a huge impact across the board.
“It’s not just a drought,” Brady said. “It affects the economy — it affects everything.”
Field technician supervisor for the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, Billy Barron, said the drought in 2011 was a learning point for most farmers in the area. Despite the conditions, farmers continued to pump water to their crops throughout the rest of the year. They soon learned they did not have the water volume to do so.
This year, farmers zeroed out their crops to preserve water and will try again next year, Barron added.
“When Mother Nature doesn’t give you the water through rain and your insurance is based on irrigated crops, then at some point we’re just going to have to stop and take the monthly from the insurance and call it quits,” Barron said.
The cost of cotton is currently very high despite not having a large quantity produced this year. Low production increases market prices and as market prices increase, the cost of cotton will follow, Barron added.
“Companies will take the extra money they’re having to pay to get the product, the consumer is going to have to pay it on their end,” Barron said.
Aubrey Spear, chairman of the Regional Water Planning Group of Region O for the Texas Water Development Board, said region O comprises 21 counties including Lubbock, and uses more water for agricultural purposes than any other region on a year to year basis.
The majority of the Ogallala Aquifer in our region is used for agriculture. Although the groundwater has been depleting, we will see a shift in the economy over the next 50 years that will solve the problem, Spear said. Innovations as to how farmers irrigate, such as preventing evaporation and planting new crops that do not consume as much water will be the key to preservation.
“Eventually what will happen is as the groundwater depletes and they have to put in more wells to produce the same amount of water, it won’t be as economically feasible to do that because they have to make a profit off their crops to survive,” Spear said.
Farmers will start transitioning back to the process used when they first arrived to the South Plains; dry land farming. The process will occur naturally as they adjust to the economic climate.
Jeff Walker, executive administrator for the Texas Water Development Board, said
Aubrey Spear, Director of water utilities for the city of Lubbock, said one of the city’s major goals is to diversify the water supply.
Groundwater, 64% of Lubbock’s water usage, is drought resistant and only disappears as it is pumped, whereas surface water, 36% of Lubbock’s water usage, — although renewable — does not have many inflows and will evaporate as we experience dry conditions, Spear added.
Merging surface water and groundwater together allows the city to use both of their assets to preserve groundwater when there is plenty of surface water, and use groundwater when we do not have as much surface water.
Soon Lubbock will treat and purify wastewater for reuse which will be drought resistant and allow infinite usage.
“You’ve got to do that in order to have a sustainable, resilient water supply,” Spear said.
The largest cities in the South Plains area, including Lubbock, are a part of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority and have purchased over half a million acres of water rights in Roberts county.
“That area can produce three or four thousand gallons a minute of water out of a well, where in other places around Lubbock you’ll be lucky to get two or three hundred gallons a minute out of a well,” Spear said. “It’s very strategic so the depletion of that well field and those water rights is not near a threat like it is in some areas that have been heavily mined due to agriculture.”
Spear said groundwater supplies are some of the cheapest water supplies because the process is simpler compared to the process of treating surface water and purifying reuse water. That is where big money is spent.
“That’s why groundwater has been so valuable in the past here in this area and it’s a very important tool in our toolkit but we want to conserve it too,” Spear said.
Change is on the horizon whether that is Lubbock enacting xeriscaping, using plants that require less water or having different varieties of grass that can go dormant, said Billy Barron, field technician supervisor for HPWD.
Brady said there are products people can buy that do not consume as much water — low-flow shower heads, sink nozzles and toilets.
“Conserve as much water as possible because whether you’re in the city or country we’re all using the same water and so whatever water you can conserve is going to help your neighbor or yourself,” Brady said.
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