I've always loved art by the ancients, whether its petroglyphs (etchings in stone) or pictographs (paint on rock). I went to college amongst the rock art of New Mexico, and the drawings in the caves of Lescaux, France, made some 16,000 years ago, brought a tear to my eye when I visited them a couple … Continue reading groundwater and the white shaman →

A number of years ago when I worked for the Texas Water Development Board, I was at an all-day meeting with the Corps of Engineers near Denison, Texas, to discuss this and that related to water. At the end of the day, I, along with my co-workers, were invited to eat BBQ somewhere nearby. "No … Continue reading where the sun rises on mr east →

"You may say I'm a dreamer." Looking downstream from the pedestrian bridge. I traveled out to Fort Stockton to check in on Comanche Springs (and talk with the county about flood control) in mid-January. The springs started flowing again on Christmas Day and are now chugging at about 10 cubic feet per second, which is … Continue reading back to the comanche! →

So I show up to the Austin Geological Society's yard sale to support the tribe and bump into Patricia "Pat" Bobeck, who happens to be an expert on Henry Darcy, the father of hydrogeology and namesake of Darcy's Law. Pat and I chitchat, and she asks "Any vacation plans this summer?" "Yes!" I reply. "The … Continue reading darcy in dijon →

Ever since Peter Lake, chairman of the Texas Water Development Board, told me about Chuck Norris' water some three years ago, I've searched high and low for it (at least when I was passing through the area). Lo and behold, on a random pit stop, there he was in all his roundhouse kick glory: C-Force! … Continue reading c-force: chuck norris punched the ground and made the earth cry! →

postcard from my collection The most famous flowing artesian well in (mostly forgotten) history is the Grenelle Well in Paris. It wasn't the first artesian well in the world: that honor probably goes to the Egyptians circa 2000 BC. It wasn't the first in Europe: that honor probably goes to the Carthusian monks near Lille … Continue reading the grenelle well →

Neat postcard I have of an Ogallala well west of Plainview, Texas. It appears to be a flowing well, but that is surely a pumphouse behind that gush of water. I estimate the card to be from around 1910. I poked around TWDB's water-well database and found a well (11-15-504) owned by C.S Ebeling noted … Continue reading ebeling well near plainview →

In April 1757, a Spanish contingent of soldiers, settlers, and Franciscan fathers established Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas on the left bank of the spring-fed San Saba near present-day Menard. The fathers built Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba on the opposite bank four miles downstream to avoid frightening the Lipan Apache they hoped … Continue reading history (and surface water/groundwater interaction) on the san saba →

Water management [There's been a mild rash of groundwater articles concerning Texas relating to oil and gas, and they almost always muff up how we regulate groundwater in Texas...] "Texas has a “Rule of Capture,” where landowners basically can pump water from below their properties and pump as much as they like. So, it’s easier … Continue reading texas groundwater news oct-nov 18 →

In New Mexico, Move to Reuse Fracking Water Stirs Cry for Transparency [I include this article because there's some interest in Texas on this same topic.] "The state formed a working group, with the blessing of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to find ways to reuse wastewater from natural gas fracking wells. " "...representatives from … Continue reading texas groundwater news september 2018 →