presentation to the southwestern travis county groundwater conservation district

Available for perusin' and abusin'! 2018-0808b Mace - SWTCGCD [another revised version posted August 9, 2018 5:52pm after I saw that the PDF truncated the slides. I promise: I'll get this figured out one of these days...] [revised version posted August 8, 2018 ~8:04am after {cough, cough} someone noted I had the wrong name for … Continue reading presentation to the southwestern travis county groundwater conservation district →

texas groundwater news june 2018

Pipeline leaks; rancher reports; company delays reporting leak; judge says the company should be fined; Railroad Commission doesn’t fine (and chews out staff): https://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/why-texas-officials-decided-not-levy-penalties-after-pipeline-leak/HyOfo4fe4nBAewoeWeM6XO/ Movement on Electro-Purification's permit from the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District: editorial: https://haysfreepress.com/2018/06/13/ep-request-is-an-alarming-threat-to-groundwater/ background: https://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/hays-county-water-fight-back-years-after-residents-big-win/NHY3f5s9iJLPS5MQw5DzLM/ public meeting: https://haysfreepress.com/2018/06/20/aquifer-district-presents-plan-to-harness-ep/ You should visit The Meadows Center and take a glass-bottom boat tour: https://scadconnector.com/2018/06/10/stranded-in-texas-part-three-a-glass-bottom-boat-tour-at-the-texas-state-university-meadows-center/ New Mexico’s … Continue reading texas groundwater news june 2018 →

hydrogeomimicry: a visit to san antonio’s confluence park

In the architectural world, there's this thing called mimicry: structures that are inspired by nature. There's biomimicry, such as at Antoni Gaudi's ethereal (started in 1881 and still under construction!) cathedral in Barcelona: Tree-like columns inside Gaudi's Barcelona cathedral (via Wikimedia Commons) There's also geomimicry, such as Jean Nouvel's stunning National Museum of Qatar inspired by … Continue reading hydrogeomimicry: a visit to san antonio’s confluence park →

there’s still a gusher in Sulphur, Oklahoma

I loves me a well that squirts water from the ground! We'll let the Freudists debate precisely what that means psychologically, but for me, it's hydrogeology come alive in a magical display of hydraulic head higher--sometimes substantially higher--than the land surface. Water! Flowing "uphill"!!! Sadly, many of the early gushers have long dried up due to … Continue reading there’s still a gusher in Sulphur, Oklahoma →

a big ole well in a big ole aquifer

I was fortunate enough to attend an eight-state conference on the Ogallala Aquifer up in Garden City, Kansas, a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I head to Kansas, I check on how close one of my hydrologic bucket-list items—The Big Well in Greensburg—will be. With Greensburg an hour forty from Garden City; I had just … Continue reading a big ole well in a big ole aquifer →

a trip to the (flowing!) comanche springs

Hunting for crawfish in the canal just downstream of the pool. The salt rim on the sides suggests a waning flow. Comanche Springs (originally named Awache, Comanche for "wide water") was a Comanche stop into and out of Mexico (and surely a pre-historic stop for water in a land where water is scarce). Later, the … Continue reading a trip to the (flowing!) comanche springs →

du ponts’ artesian well in louisville, kentucky (1858)

After Mulot imported Chinese cable-tool drilling to the western world and successfully sank a flowing artesian well in Paris, water wildcatters worldwide slowly began chipping into the depths in search of artesian water. The du Ponts drilled one such well in Louisville, Kentucky; a well nicely described by Professor J. Lawrence Smith of the University … Continue reading du ponts’ artesian well in louisville, kentucky (1858) →

happy V-day from the wellhead!

Water! Plenty of It: Enough for one thousand homes

Neat advertisement for a development in East Dallas spouting off (so to speak...) about its flowing artesian well. Vickery Place as a development began in 1911; this enticement was published in the Dallas Morning News on June 11, 1911. According to "The Geology of Dallas County" by Ellis Shuler, the Vickery Place well intercepted sands at … Continue reading Water! Plenty of It: Enough for one thousand homes →

yapping about artesian wells (and water conservation) in Austin

I'll be yipping and yapping about the history of artesian wells on February 1st (8a to 3:30p at the Canyon View Event Center in Austin) at the Central Texas Water Conservation Symposium. The title of the symposium is "Future-Focused Water Conservation--Past to Present: What's Next on the Horizon?" My presentation is past-focused with the historical tidbit that … Continue reading yapping about artesian wells (and water conservation) in Austin →