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Posts Tagged ‘drought’

From toilet water to tap water, the new liquid gold of West Texas

Posted in Coal Plants, Water, tagged , , , on August 12, 2011 |

So after years of diminishing water supplies made even worse by the second-most severe drought in state history, some West Texas communities are resorting to a plan to turn sewage into drinking water.

A water-reclamation plant believed to be the first in Texas will supply Big Spring, Midland, Odessa and Stanton and is currently under construction.

Officials have been working to dispel any fears people have that they will soon be drinking their neighbors’ urine.  They are promising the system will yield clean, safe water.

Similar plants have been operating for years in Tucson, Ariz., parts of California and in other countries. Water experts predict other American cities will follow suit as they confront growing populations, drought and other issues.

The Colorado River Municipal Water District in West Texas began considering a wastewater recycling plant back in 2000 and broke ground last month on the facility in Big Spring, about 100 miles southeast of Lubbock. When finished, it should supply 2 million gallons of water a day.

This year’s drought has made this dry region even drier, wreaking havoc on crops, ranch animals, wildlife and fish in the region.  At least one of the three reservoirs in West Texas may dry up if the drought persists through next year, as climatologists have predicted could happen, causing the district’s water supply to be reduced from 65 million gallons a day to 45 million.

The idea to recycle sewage isn’t new. Fort Worth and other cities across the nation have long used treated wastewater to water grass and trees and irrigate crops.

And you can be sure the proposed Tenaska coal plant in Abilene is hoping to cash in on that water after having been turned down by the city of Abilene.  However, after this year, this region might be reluctant to commit to providing that much water even if it is reclaimed from sewage.  Because power plants suck . . . lots and lots of water and they tend to get to do so before crops, livestock and even people.

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If it started raining today, how much would we need to end this drought?

Posted in Climate Change, Efficiency, Global Warming, tagged , , , on August 10, 2011 |

Texas is suffering from an historic drought and one question that looms large is – how much rain will we need to actually end the drought?  And the answer is –  A LOT!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicates 12 to 15+ inches of rain (shades of purple and dark blue) is necessary for most of Texas to end the drought, as shown in the graphic below.

Even those small parts of the state not needing those massive amounts of rainfall to end this drought will require six to twelve inches of rain to recover.  With the Climate Prediction Center now saying there is a 50/50 chance of a return to La Nina conditions this fall which almost always results in drier than normal conditions for Texas and most of the South, the potential for recovery any time soon is pretty slim.

It has taken months for the drought to get to the level it is at now and it will take months or even years to return to normal.  But all indications are that there is no major relief coming soon and if you haven’t already done so, consider taking measures to reduce your water and electricity use for the long haul.  For ideas on how consumers can do this, check out the Texas Is Hot website for tips on how to reduce your energy use, and TCEQ’s Take Care of Texas website for tips on conserving water.

 

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How long can we endure this drought – wait, it looks like at least another year

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2011 |

The Climate Prediction Center says there is now a 50/50 chance of a return to La Nina conditions this fall.

La Nina is an expansive area of cooler-than-normal water in the Pacific Ocean. This cooling alters weather patterns across the U.S., and almost always results in drier than normal conditions for Texas and most of the South. And, when we’re drier than normal, we tend to be hotter than normal.

This is very bad news for Texas, as the 2010-11 La Nina is the reason for our existing drought and heat wave. Think the drought and summer heat is bad now (the Mid-West and East had a heat wave, what we are having is a heat tsunami), if we have a 2011-12 La Nina, this drought could reach epic proportions by next summer.

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LCRA cancels board meeting with the White Stallion Energy Center water contract on the agenda.

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , on August 4, 2011 |

August 10 LCRA Board meeting canceled after White Stallion water contract pulled from agenda

Discussion and possible action by the LCRA Board of Directors on a contract to provide water to a proposed new coal plant in Matagorda County has been postponed indefinitely. This decision comes after the company proposing the plant substantially changed the terms of the contract on Monday, Aug 1st which prompted the cancellation of the special-called Aug. 10 meeting of the LCRA Board.

The new proposal by White Stallion asks for more time to pay the $55 million ($250,000 a year instead of $55 million upfront) and significantly reduces the amount of water reservation fees White Stallion would have to initially pay. The new proposal included other changes, some unprecedented for an LCRA water contract.

We say, good for the LCRA Board and thank you Senator Fraser for stepping in and asking the LCRA to call a moritorium on water contracts in light of this exceptional drought that blankets three quarters of the state.

Finally, thank you to the 2,200 Texas citizens who sent in cards and letters to the LCRA opposing this contract.  You made a difference.

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In the midst of water restrictions, tiny Stamford sells its water to the highest bidder

Posted in Coal, Coal Plants, Water, tagged , , , , on July 12, 2011 |

Last week,  Governor Rick Perry issued a proclamation certifying that certain counties in Texas are currently threatened by exceptional drought conditions and an extreme fire hazard due to a continuing disaster in several counties in Texas, including Jones and Haskell Counties, which the small town of Stamford straddles.

Water Restrictions in Texas at the beginning of July

Located 40 miles north of Abilene with a population just over 3,000, Stamford’s city council voted today to sell water to the proposed Tenaska coal-fired plant. It is expected that Stamford would provide about 780,000 gallons (or roughly three-quarters of the minimum amount of water needed by the plant) daily from Lake Stamford, a reservoir formed by Stamford Dam with a storage capacity of 51,573 acre·ft.  The average depth of Lake Stamford is only 11 feet. The 2011 Brazos G Water Plan (Vol. 1, p. 4A-7) projects Stamford will have a deficit of nearly 3,000 acre-feet a year by 2030 without the Tenaska contract.

There was no public hearing before the City Council voted, and there were some people present who disagreed with the decision.

Last night, Tenaska hosted an open house.  Over a hundred people showed up, the majority of whom were opposed to the water contract, and while some members of the city council and the mayor were present, they still chose to approve the water contract.

 

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Heat and drought; what’s a state to do?

Posted in Climate Change, Coal Plants, Nuclear Plants, Water, tagged , , , on July 11, 2011 |

We’ve blogged numerous times about the persistent heat and drought plaguing the Southern Plains (particularly Texas) this year. Much of Texas is off a June that ranks among the top five hottest in history. According to the National Climatic Data Center, Texas had their hottest June on record and of the six record hottest June cities, 5 were in Texas.

  • Record hottest June in Texas, surpassing June 1953!
  • Record hottest June cities: Lubbock, Midland, San Angelo, Houston, Galveston, Wichita Falls, and Columbus, Ga.

There has been no letup in July so far and the number of days with 100-degree temperatures continues to climb. Since the beginning of June to the beginning of July, Texas has seen the highest levels of drought — rated as “exceptional” — jump from  50.65 percent of the state to 72 percent of the state.

Dallas, Texas

  • 16 100-degree days through July 10 —the annual average is 18 days;
  • Most 100-degree days in a year: 69 in 1980.

Austin, Texas

  • 27 100-degree days through July 10 —more than double the annual average of 12 days;
  • Most 100-degree days in a year: 69 in 1925.

Even if you don’t believe in anthropogenic climate change, the last 10 years have been the hottest in the last 440,000 years, at least if the Vostok and Greenland ice cores are any indication.  And whether or not you think we can mitigate global warming, here in Texas we need to carefully consider one of our state’s most precious resources, WATER!

So when industries, like coal-fired power plants, nuclear plants, natural gas fracking – to name a few that use large amounts of water, are about to sign contracts with the water districts, or river authorities, we should all show up and demand that they show us we indeed will have water available for the people who live in the area.

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Happy 4th of July, with or without fireworks

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , on July 4, 2011 |

NOT THIS YEAR!

No oohs and aahs this Independence Day holiday in many Texas communities as months of severe drought have led to restrictions on fireworks across much of the state.

Not only are dozens of counties imposing restrictions on small pyrotechnics like firecrackers and bottle rockets, (even sparklers in some places), but cities like Austin, San Antonio, Amarillo, Lubbock, San Marcos, The Woodlands, Magnolia, Tomball, Rosenberg, Plainview, and Round Rock – to name a few – have canceled municipal Fourth of July displays because of the tinderbox conditions.

In Lubbock, temperatures remain in the triple digits without any sign of relief and wildfires this spring have already reached into the city limits and destroyed three homes.  Months without significant rain have left grasslands brown and dry, looking like the dead of winter (for our readers in the northern climes, Texas has a brown  Christmas rather than white).

Canceling the fireworks shows is causing a little bit of a stir in these communities, but it’s an extreme measure in the midst of an “exceptional” drought for the protection of the residents. One errant spark and there could be a major grass fire, as many of these communities have already experienced first hand.

Wildfires have scorched nearly 3.3 million acres of Texas since November, an area larger than the state of Connecticut. Authorities have banned outdoor fires in a record setting 235 of the state’s 254 counties.

Texas is the worst-hit of several states in a band of severe drought that stretches from Arizona to Florida. More than 90% of the state is suffering from “extreme” or “exceptional” drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The “exceptional” category — the most severe — covers 72% of the state, according to figures published Thursday. Only a small patch of northeast Texas, from roughly Fort Worth to the Oklahoma state line, has seen anything close to normal rainfall.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday declared disasters in 213 Texas counties due to the drought. The move comes after a loss of pasture, grain and forage crops of more than 30% in the affected district and opens the door to federal support for farmers.

The Texas agricultural extension service estimates that state farmers have suffered $62 million in losses to fires that includes buildings, crops, livestock — and more than 4,100 miles of fences, which can cost $10,000 per mile to build.

In the West Texas oil towns of Midland and Odessa, water is getting to be as valuable as crude oil. Reservoirs managed by the Colorado River Municipal Water District are running dry, forcing the cities to impose new restrictions on water use.  The district has cut Midland’s water allocation by 20% this year, and the city’s biggest water source, the O.H. Ivie Reservoir, is projected to run dry by December 2012 unless conditions change drastically

Suffering its worst drought in more than 50 years, the Llano River is perilously close to running dry. It is the sole source of drinking water for Llano, just 75 miles north of Austin.  As I drove through the town last weekend, the Llano river was a wide, shallow shining pool on the west side of the bridge where a small dam creates the Llano City Lake, and dry river bed on the east side of the bridge, vividly demonstrating the extend of the drought.  Scattered throughout the town were signs posted showing they had moved to Stage 4 water restrictions, which in Llano means no outdoor watering at all – no lawn sprinklers, landscaping, filling of pools, even washing cars. If conditions don’t improve, Llano will more than likely move to Stage 5 restrictions soon. In Stage 5 restrictions, residential customers are limited to half of their normal water consumption and a surcharge is applied to any over usage.

In April, Gov. Rick Perry called on “Texans of all faiths and traditions” to pray for rain. But the state remains parched.

So, throughout the state, this drought has been taking its toll, but as Stephen Colbert decried on his show last week, banning fireworks on the 4th of July is unpatriotic – after all, there’s nothing more American than losing a finger and setting your neighbor’s yard on fire with one bottle rocket. 

No fireworks withstanding, hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July.

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Drought worsens in Texas

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , on June 3, 2011 |

Drought plagued cotton field in Lubbock, Texas just two weeks ago - photo by Betsy Blaney, AP

More than half the state of Texas is now gripped by the most extreme level of drought measured by climatologists and as I look out my window at the lush green strip of lawn in front of the office building across the street, I wonder how long they will be able to keep watering to maintain that look.

A report released Thursday by national climate experts shows that Texas saw the highest levels of drought — rated as “exceptional” — jump from 43.97 percent of the state to 50.65 percent of the state.  Folks living in these regions of the state are experiencing thousands of wildfires, dried up grazing land needed for cattle, and the loss of thousands of acres of wheat and other crops.

It has been estimated that Texas farmers and ranchers have already lost $1.5 billion in revenues this year, and officials say if the drought continues into June, losses will top $4 billion, making it the costliest season on record, impacting the entire nation since Texas is the nation’s second largest agriculture producer .

Texas could be well on its way to breaking the record of 2006 as we contemplate this May’s estimated rainfall totals, which were only about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches of rain across the state.  This would make the March-May spring period the driest on record once the totals are confirmed.

Texas has a long history with droughts,  but it is still early and we will have to wait a bit to determine how this year ranks in the history of Texas droughts, but it is not looking good and so far the governor’s call for prayer for rain has yet to be answered.

The persistent drought in the south comes even as too much rain has been falling to the north with flooding prompting wide-spread evacuations, and tornadoes spawning as disturbances move through from Dallas north and eastward, devastating communities in their wake.  How much weather related devastation do we have to endure before our governments begin to seriously consider means to mitigate the effects of climate change?

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Half of Texas suffering an “exceptional drought”

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , on May 16, 2011 |

Less than halfway through 2011, this country has already seen three “exceptional” meteorological events just in the past few weeks. These events that pushed the record books to the limit include:

  • A deadly swarm of 244 confirmed tornadoes from April 25-28, (with 112 reports of tornadoes yet to be confirmed) that raked the South and Southeast, with some tornadoes up to a mile wide that remained on the ground for over 100 miles.
  • a slow-moving flood disaster with record flooding or lake levels recorded in 25 locations in 10 states, topping the Great Flood of 1927, and
  • the Southern drought that is creeping toward a new record Just under 6% of the continental US is currently suffering an “exceptional drought”. That’s 185,321 square miles (an area larger than the state of California – 163,695 sq. mi.)

This exceptional drought event has not yet broken the record drought coverage set back on Aug. 20, 2002, but it is getting close.

And while this is not yet the worst drought on record, of note is the fact that just under half (47.5%) of the state of Texas is in this “exceptional” category!  The previous maximum coverage of exceptional drought in Texas was a mere 18.8% on Aug. 25, 2009 (this since aerial coverage of records have been kept starting in January 2000).

Texas has gone from being at least 82% in drought to less than 12% in drought 14 times over the last 11 years! This probably makes Texas one of the most “feast or famine” precipitation states in the nation and we are certainly in a famine phase right now.

Right now there is little expectation that we can expect relief from this current drought in the near future, and that relief may come too late for some. If the past decade is any indication, it also means relief may come in the form of too much, and parts of the state can expect exceptional flooding. Some meteorologists think this may be evidence of the amplification of the water cycle as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), relating to greater evaporation over land and water.

As Texas rides these roller coaster weather shifts, it is clear that the state needs to carefully assess its water resources and that means looking at water usage by conventional power generators (coal and nuclear).

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And the landscape of merry and desperate drought

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , on April 6, 2011 |

In most years, the dark clouds over the Texas Panhandle in the spring means rain. This year, they’re more likely be an indicator of wildfires which have already burned thousands of acres in March as the state stares once again into the face of a severe drought.

Our neighbor, Oklahoma was drier in December, January, February and March than it has been in any similar period since 1921. That’s saying a lot in the state known for the 1930s Dust Bowl, when drought, destructive farming practices and high winds generated severe dust storms that stripped the land of its topsoil.

March 29, 2011 Drought Monitor MapThe drought stretches from the Louisiana Gulf coast to Colorado, and conditions are getting worse, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.  The area in Texas covered by an extreme drought has tripled in the past month to 40 percent.  A daunting prospect for a state that was just starting to recover from our last drought.

Drought indicators in east-central Texas puts the region in the Exceptional Drought (D4) level, and if rain does not materialize soon, intensification of the current drought is likely. And the drought regions in northern and central Texas continued to depict worsening conditions as well, as the lingering benefits of scant late-winter rainfall gives way to dry, hot weather.

An extreme drought is declared when there’s major damage to crops or pasture and widespread water shortages or restrictions.  Weather forecasters expect the drought in Texas to continue or get worse through June in most of the state with the danger of fire remaining extremely high according to the National Weather Service.  They are also warning that this could be one of the more devastating droughts on record if the state doesn’t start getting normal to above normal rainfall before June.

According to the state climatologist, John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas hasn’t had a drier October to February period since 1967. The five months that ended Feb. 28 saw only 4.8 inches of rain on average across the state. In a typical year, an average of 9.7 inches would fall.  As examples, Midland got .1 inches of rain in March, while College Station got 6 inches. Usually, those cities would get 4.6 and 19.1 inches respectively.

The drought has been made worse by warmer than normal temperatures.  This past Sunday, low humidity and winds up to 55 mph fueled the spread of wildfires across West Texas, and four big ones burned more than 11,000 acres.  Currently nearly 180 of Texas’ 254 counties have burn bans.

While the state fights the EPA tooth and nail over the regulation of greenhouse gasses, Texans get to see first-hand, the impacts of climate change on our daily lives.  It’s going to be a long hot summer folks.

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SNOWPOCALYPSE Strikes Austin, Texas

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2010 |

Holy *%$&! its snowing in Austin, Texas! What do I do? Can I still drive? Do I have to go to work? Should I put on big boots and go buy as much bottled water and creamed corn as I can fit into a stolen borrowed shopping cart? Or just jump on the global warming denier train ASAP?

Terrified victims of SNOWMAGGEDON tremble in fear outside the Public Citizen office

That’s right folks, those fluffy flaky beauties may be lovely to our amazed southern eyes, but to climate deniers they are cold hard proof that global warming is fake. Because its cold outside, so how can the globe possibly be warming?!?! Hah! “Fact” your way out of that truthiness!

***Sigh*** Some folks have a lot of fun busting up climate deniers, but I just don’t have the stomach for it. Far from laughing in glee at those fools who can’t tell the difference between “weather” and “climate”, it just makes me sad. So I’ll let the president do my dirty work for me.  Check out this video of Obama addressing the crowd at a town hall meeting in Nevada.  He actually does  a really good job of explaining the science of “global boiling”, as Brad Johnson at the Wonk Room notes:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPwHnU5ObPY]

…we just got five feet of snow in Washington and so everybody’s like-a lot of the people who are opponents of climate change, they say, “See, look at that. There’s all this snow on the ground, you know, this doesn’t mean anything.” I want to just be clear that the science of climate change doesn’t mean that every place is getting warmer. It means the planet as a whole is getting warmer. But what it may mean is, for example, Vancouver which supposed to be getting snow during the Olympics, suddenly is at 55 degrees and Dallas suddenly is getting seven inches of snow. The idea is that as the planet as a whole gets warmer, you start seeing changing weather patterns and that creates more violent storm systems, more unpredictable weather. So any single place might end up being warmer. Another place might end up being a little bit cooler. There might end up being more precipitation in the air…

So there you have it, folks. Global warming doesn’t mean it is simply getting hotter. It doesn’t mean there will never be snow again. It means that global temperatures overall are going up, and that’s going to make weather all over the place get a little wonky.  Like stronger hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, extreme drought in south Texas, or even snow right here in Austin.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Rice Farmers in Matagorda County United over Water Supply Concerns, Fight White Stallion Coal Plant’s Proposed LCRA Contract

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Good Government, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2010 |

Rice farmers in Matagorda County, Texas have united to stop the development of the White Stallion “clean” coal plant in Bay City. As Heather Menzies reported in the Bay City Tribune, local farmers have formed action groups with Public Citizen Texas’ Ryan Rittenhouse and Tom “Smitty” Smith to rally public  opposition to the plant’s extensive environmental hazards and intensive water usage.

The coalition plans to write and call state Senators Glenn Hegar and Joan Huffman in order to demand that their community’s interest be protected. If built, the coal plant will consume a substantial portion of the remaining water supply from the river basin. If there isn’t enough water, the rice farmers won’t get any, and there won’t be a rice crop. And when the Lower Colorado River Authority is already prepared to declare the 2009 drought the worst in 50 years, should significant water supplies be given to new coal plants?

Yet many local politicians and candidates feel that the coal plant’s construction and operation will create much needed jobs in a county that is starving for economic development.  On Wednesday, February 10th, the State Office of Administrative Hearings will began adjudicating the contested air permit case of White Stallion Energy Center, LLC. The hearing offers another case indicative of the greater fight against fossil fuel industries that money and muscle their way to booming profits at the expense of everyone. (more…)

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Baby It’s Cold Outside

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2010 |

So put on a sweater and crank up the thermostat! That was the major trend late last week and over the weekend, when arctic weather led Texas to set another winter power usage record.  According to the Abilene Reporter News,

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator for most of the state, reported a winter record of 55,856 megawatts Friday between 7 and 8 a.m. to erase the previous high of 52,001 set just 12 hours previously between 7 and 8 p.m. Thursday.

Those of you paying close attention may recall that last year Texas also set the record for summer energy consumption.

This year Texas used more energy staying cool in the hot hot summer, and more energy staying warm in the cold, cold winter, than in any other time in the past.

It has been so unusually cold in North America that “wintry weather sweeping across the Northern Hemisphere has slowed coal deliveries in parts of the U.S. South.” Though we’re feeling the chill here, but its actually been unseasonably warm in most other parts of the world like Greenland where they usually count on that cold to re-form ice sheets — some scientists are even saying 2010 will very likely be one of the warmest on record.

In just a year Texas has faced searing hot summers, cripplingly cold winters, devastating drought, no coal for frosty’s nose… makes you wonder if there’s something bigger going on out there.  Like some sort of, oh I dunno, massive shift — a massive change leading to extreme weather events. Not sure what to call it now, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

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Casual Friday Video Roundup

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on September 4, 2009 |

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB_B5k5ux1Q]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OTya-pvQY]

And because we won’t stop til we get enough…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_397CFbewkg&feature=player_embedded]

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Proposed South Texas Project Reactors Pose Increased Water Use and Radioactive Contamination Risks

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 1, 2009 |

San Antonio, TX —  Nuclear power is the most water intensive energy source available. When San Antonio and all of Texas are suffering from extreme drought and are increasingly in need of sources of drinking water, pursuing more nuclear reactors doesn’t make sense, especially true since cheaper, safer alternatives such as energy efficiency, wind, geothermal and solar energy are available. All use significantly less water than nuclear reactors.

Dr. Lauren Ross’ comments are timely in that the Texas drought continues to worsen, and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is still considering nine water-related contentions submitted in opposition to additional reactors by SEED Coalition, Public Citizen and STARE, the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy.

“Nuclear reactors consume vast quantities of water,” said Dr. Lauren Ross, environmental engineer and owner of Glenrose Engineering. “The proposed STP reactors 3 and 4 would withdraw 23,170 gallons per minute from the Colorado River. The two proposed reactors would increase forced evaporation by an additional 37,400 acre-feet per year. The water withdrawal required from the Colorado River to replace evaporated water for all four reactors would be about 74,500 acre-feet per year.”

“Water withdrawal for STP’s nuclear reactors can be a significant fraction of the total river flow. Peak water use so far occurred on September 16, 2001, when the water withdrawal was 48% of the total Colorado river flow near the reactor site,” said Dr. Ross. “From January 1, 2001 through September 30, 2006 there were 69 days when withdrawal for existing STP reactors was equal to or greater than one quarter of the entire river flow.” With four reactors and an increase in the surface water demand, the river flow in the future could go even lower than it is now.

Estimated groundwater use would more than double from an average of 798 gallons per minute for the existing facility over the last five years to a level of 2040 gallons per minute for all four reactors, according to Dr. Ross, but STP wants to wait on analyzing groundwater availability until after the permit is issued.

The year 2008 was one of the driest years on record for Central Texas. Dr. Ross’s most recent research shows that in 2008 water use by LCRA’s firm water customers plus four irrigation operators was more than twice that of the Highland Lakes inflows for the same period, so losses are not being replenished. Moreover, STP’s authorized withdrawal is more than one-third of the total Highland Lakes inflow for 2008.

Water versus Energy

The San Antonio Water System recently filed suit for breach of contract against the Lower Colorado River Authority for $1.23 billion. The suit claims that the water-sharing project was killed by the river authority in order to make sure there would be enough water for power plant deals in Matagorda County. At the same time CPS Energy, the San Antonio municipal utility, seeks to be a partner in the proposed nuclear reactors for Matagorda County. STP’s annual permitted withdrawal from the Colorado River is 102,000 acre-feet per year, incredibly close to the amount in the canceled LCRA/SAWS water agreement, 102,500 acre-feet per year (average).

“Will we reach a point where San Antonio will have to decide which matters most, electricity from nuclear reactors or water for drinking?” asked Alice Alice Canestaro-Garcia, visual artist and member of EnergÍa MÍa. “It makes no sense to build two more reactors, which together would use enough water to fill 1,440 swimming pools in one day.”

Increasing Radioactive Contamination

South Texas Project’s license application fails to evaluate the increasing levels of groundwater tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that can be dangerous if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. Tritium emits Beta radiation that causes cancer, cell mutation, and birth defects. “Tritium has been detected in two of the pressure relief wells that collect water leaking from the unlined bottom of the existing main cooling reservoir. Concentrations of tritium have been increasing in both wells, and these concentrations could rise if two more nuclear reactors are built at the site,” said Dr. Ross.

A state water permit proposed for the site fails to address radionuclides such as tritium, and doesn’t require monitoring for total dissolved solids, some metals or the chemicals added by the facility, such as biocides, sulfuric acid, and anti-scalants. There are also no sulfur or sodium limits for the wastewater discharges, even though these are significant components of the water that would be released back to the Colorado River system.

The application’s Environmental Report relies upon a dilution factor of 10 to meet discharge standards, but fails to provide information about how much the waste discharge loads would change with two additional nuclear reactors. It fails to analyze the consequences of the load increases into a system with only a small change in the dilution factor, since the storage volume would increase only 7.4%.

The reactor application admits that “5,700 acre-feet per year leaks through the unlined bottom of the main cooling reservoir into the underlying Gulf Coast Chicot Aquifer” and 68% of it is recovered. The rest migrates underground, seeping into nearby surface water bodies, into pumped wells or the estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico.

“Failure to monitor and regulate leakage through the bottom of the main cooling reservoir constitutes a failure to protect groundwater and surface water from plant operations,” said Dr. Ross.

For more information, visit www.EnergiaMia.org

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