A few years back, the fall before The Plague, Dr. Ben Schwartz of the Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center invited me to join him and Peter Sprouse to write a short blurb for a world encyclopedia on the status of spring ecology. I knew exactly where to go for a quick stat on the … Continue reading revisiting Gunnar Brune’s “Major and Historical Springs of Texas” →

So when I roll into town planning to gawk at the site of a long-gone artesian well, I don't expect to find much. In the case of the well above, as reflected in a postcard from my collection, I only hoped to find the intersection where the well used to be, take a few wistful … Continue reading the mineral well in arlington, texas →

Writing a book has been a long-time personal goal, so announcing that I've done it is quite a hoot! I have Geary Schindel (former hydrogeologist with the Edwards Aquifer Authority) and my lack of good judgment to thank for this. A friend of Geary's, the editor of this series, asked Geary if he was willing … Continue reading my book, “Groundwater Sustainability: Conception, Development, and Application”, is out! →

A few weeks ago I turned in the final draft of a book I wrote on groundwater sustainability to the publisher. Editors will now have their way with it and, hopefully, it will come out by the end of the year. It was a neat, but challenging, experience, something that the pandemic allowed me to … Continue reading how much groundwater is OK to take? →

A local television station interviewed me today about a study led by Daniel Scott at the University of Waterloo showing that, under the high-emission scenario, only 1 of the previous 21 host cities of the Winter Olympics would be climate-reliable enough to host again at the end of the century (hello, Sapporo!). Yikes! However, most … Continue reading groundwater snow at the olympics? →

This post will only be up for a day or two. Short Course description PDF of slides (6 per page) PDF of slides (2 per page) PDF of "So Secret, Occult, and Concealed" paper link to surface-water paper

For the most part, the federal government has stayed out of groundwater quantity questions except indirectly where groundwater production has impacted interstate surface-water allocations (for example, see Texas v. New Mexico on the Pecos River [and now on the Rio Grande] and Kansas v. Colorado on the Arkansas River). The federal government doesn't have an … Continue reading mississippi v. tennessee →

Much of West Texas is webbed with concrete-lined dreams of now-abandoned irrigation works that aimed to turn the Pecos River Valley into a Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, whether due to robbing-Peter-to-pump-Paul well drilling, the inherent saltiness of water in these parts, or a river already rustled across the state line, all that is left are … Continue reading imperial forces →

Let's say, hypothetically, you want to sample Comanche Springs. Here are some quick thoughts about that endeavor. As the name suggests, Comanche Springs is series of springs that run up Comanche Creek: After going dry in the late 50s and early 60s, the springs have seasonally returned here and there since the mid-1980s. Over the … Continue reading so you wanna sample Comanche Springs? →

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 →