A Texan Tragedy: Plenty Of Oil, But No Water

[Purveyor]

By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
Sunday, August 11, 2013 13:35 EDT

Beverly McGuire saw the warning signs before the town well went dry: sand in the toilet bowl, the sputter of air in the tap, a pump working overtime to no effect. But it still did not prepare her for the night last month when she turned on the tap and discovered the tiny town where she had made her home for 35 years was out of water.

“The day that we ran out of water I turned on my faucet and nothing was there and at that moment I knew the whole of Barnhart was down the tubes,” she said, blinking back tears. “I went: ‘dear God help us. That was the first thought that came to mind.”

Across the south-west, residents of small communities like Barnhart are confronting the reality that something as basic as running water, as unthinking as turning on a tap, can no longer be taken for granted.

Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry’s outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse.

In Texas alone, about 30 communities could run out of water by the end of the year, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/11/a-texan-tragedy-plenty-of-oil-but-no-water/

I'll sell 'em all the water they want at today's price of a gallon of unl/reg gasoline which is currently at $3.49. Y'all come know...ya hear!

[Generic Other]

1. Wow. A world where water is a costly as gold

is a world where Washington state becomes the new boom town.

[hollysmom]

2. I read that earlier today

Doesn't that remind you of the violence in the west caused by the water wars so long ago. more people live in the west than can be supported by the water, they are using up hundreds of years in the making aquifers and expect a quick fix, even if they did not use up all the water for fracking, which is stupid, the people would eventually run out of water used and wasted for other purposes.

[Oakenshield]

3. I really do fear for the ecosystem of Texas as a result of the drought and fracking

Really I do. I really don't feel a god damn thing for Texans though. After they dumped Rick Perry and Bush on us....I'm just all out of compassion when it comes to the people of that state. If I have any advice for liberals living there, it's get the hell out.

[NightWatcher]

4. Start drinking oil???

Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish has been caught
will we realize that we can't eat money

Native American wisdom.

[WinkyDink]

5. This Yankee will sell them an old "Let them freeze in the dark!" bumper sticker, made in Texas.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/let_the_bastards_freeze_in_the_dark_drive_80_mph_and_freeze_a_yankee

[theHandpuppet]

6. This is a subject that's interested me for some time

I have some links here that might interest anyone concerned about the water situation in Texas:

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/scramble-to-secure-groundwater-rights-to-keep-up-w/nTQPG/
http://texaswater.tamu.edu/water-law
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/08/texas-water-use-fracking-stirs-concerns/
There is also an excellent pdf you can download called, “Buying and selling water rights in Texas” by Ronald Kaiser of Texas A & M. You can google for the link.

[kestrel91316]

7. Ms. McGuire can go buy all the water she wants at Walmart. I suggest she do so.

[Arcanetrance]

8. Gotta love some of the comments in this thread is this what our values have come to Fuck them

They're the others that's the other sides mentality and has no place among us. I moved from NYC to the Texas to take care of my father who retired here and really the people aren't that bad yes there's some crazies but there were plenty back home in NYC. In fact most would be surprised at how conservative New York is its NYC that swings the state to the blue side.

[Egnever]

10. Hard to muster sympathy

For self inflicted wounds.

I would be willing to bet the majority of the people that are affected by this will line up to vote in another puke tool to give em some more screwing in the next election.

[Arcanetrance]

11. So can we really complain when they feel the same about us

[Egnever]

12. Not sure what you are trying to say there.

[Arcanetrance]

15. The Republicans have the attitude of Fuck the other Fuck the liberals and decide to enforce

That mentality through their policy. Do we have room to complain about them doing it when people here would enforce those same ideas on them.

[Katashi_itto]

14. They seem to be the ones that embrace fracking...

[MagickMuffin]

16. It's amazing isn't it? That DUers have shown a lack of compassion for people living in Texas

It's also disgusting as hell/well. I was born here and I have been a Democrat my whole life.

My community decided to allow fracking here. We were NOT informed of this decision. Although we did have fracking reps going door to door to have residents sell their mineral rights. When I asked them if we refused to sign they told us they would take us to court and that they would win and we would lose.

The people on this thread think the states in which they live is so much better and without teabaggers. Yet, I could probably point out the teabagging Reps in their states as well, which would indicate their state is not much better at all.


The only thing that will make any of the people in this thread, who hate Texans will hopefully come to a realization that hating on us ignorant, and that someday soon they too will be facing this same situation. I for one will not be having a happy dance because they no longer have drinking water, or any water for other daily uses. I will cry for them!

[Berlum]

9. "Frack you, you smelly American proles. Just STFU." - Oil, Inc. (R)

[Katashi_itto]

13. It doesnt matter, they have Conway Twitty

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. no water?"in america? bookmarking for later reading

[MelissaB]

18. My family just moved out of San Angelo, and water was the driving force.

What the article didn't mention is that the new pipeline will be bringing in water highly contaminated with radium.

Did anyone else notice this article came from The Guardian, not a US paper, and certainly not a Texas newspaper.