Located between Rocksprings and Brackettville are Kickapoo Springs which empty into Kickapoo Creek from a small side channel where the springs issue at the surface from alluvium but surely flow from an array of limestones buried below creek sediments. These springs also serve as the headwaters of the West Nueces River, at least until their … Continue reading kickapoo springs →

I was excited to visit St Louis to (1) check out the arch and (2) visit the site of Belcher's well. Here's an excerpt from a book I will finish sometime in the next 20 to 30 years: William Belcher, in his search for better quality water for his sugar refinery in St. Louis, commissioned … Continue reading the belcher well (st louis mo) →

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 →