Twin Buttes Broken Guage

The last reading for Twin Buttes North Pool on the Bureau of Reclamation website was 5,933 acre feet.  The gauge would not read below that level and a new one is yet to be installed and activated for public reporting.   The South Pool had over 4,000 acre feet when pumping began in mid-March.   Depending on runoff and South Concho River flow the South Pool could be half full or less from nearly three months of pumping. 

NOAA has the North Pool's elevation at 1,888.6 feet, some 52 feet below the dam's flood stage   Meanwhile the town of Barnhart ran out of water last week, in part due to heavy water use by oilfield companies.  The Texas Tribune reported:

John Nanny, an Irion County commissioner and an official with Barnhart’s water supply corporation, said on Thursday that the situation was serious.  Nanny said that the town was considering the possibility of getting a tank of freshwater from San Angelo, which is 50 miles away. Private wells were still supplying some water, he said.

When I asked San Angelo's Mayoral candidates about the oilfield's heavy water use, Councilman Hirschfeld cited the problem as regional.  It impacts San Angelo if every community west and north of us look to our dwindling water supplies to bail them out.  The proposed new reservoir north of Abilene would come on line too late to meet the water bulge required for fracking. 

I'd venture fracking the Cline Shale will add a 15-20% greater load to our historical regional water use.   That based on the Eagle Ford's 5-7% increase in an area with more water resources.  Projections have the Cline drilling more wells than Eagle Ford. 

I drove out to the North Pool last Wednesday to see its water level.  It's low, but I've seen it lower.  On the way out I noticed a large rectangular cat crossing the road.  I was on the main road in after turning from Highway 67 and about where the old pay building stood in the middle of the road when I spied the cat.  I slowed down hoping to make less noise. 

It was a mountain lion.  The last one I'd seen was in Big Bend National Park.  The ranger said adolescent males left their mother after a few years in search of new territory.  These clumsy young males are the ones most often sighted.  In Big Bend I saw one resting under brush during the heat of the day. 

The one last Wednesday turned its head in my direction, then moved quickly into the field.  There was no sign of it when I reached the spot where it took off.  I told a local veterinarian about the sighting.  He'd treated many a dog that lost it's encounter with a mountain lion. 

When I moved to San Angelo in 1994 Twin Buttes struck me as the Wild, Wild West with its range of human behavior.  I realize it is the wild west in other ways as well.

North Pool Flatlines Again

The City of San Angelo issued a press release on entering Drought Level 2:  It stated:

The City has for the last month been pumping water from Twin Buttes’ south pool into its north pool, where it can be released into Lake Nasworthy. Each of the three pumps in operation is capable of pumping about 25 acre-feet per day. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons. Dickson initiated the pumping to raise the level of the north pool, thus ensuring Nasworthy’s level can be maintained as long as possible. Consolidating water into one pool also reduces the surface area exposed to evaporation and, thus, conserves water. 

This scenario did not come true last summer when the City pumped water from the South Pool in early August.  The pool did not rise anywhere close to the promised five feet.  South Pool essentially water met San Angelo's daily water needs in August 2012. 

These promises look similarly vacuous in Spring 2013, where after a month of pumping, the North Pool is yet to rise.  After a commenter posted the North Pool had a stuck gauge, I contacted the Bureau of Reclamation.  Here's the response:

It appears that the measurement station at the outlet works is having issues measuring below a certain elevation.  A temporary gauge may need to be installed to measure the elevation. We are taking a look at it and should resolve the issue soon

In other words, if the elevation were increasing the gauge could measure.  I hope to take pictures of both the South and North Pool soon.  I'll post them here.

South Pool Pumping for 2013

After eleven days of pumping from the Twin Buttes South Pool, the North Pool is yet to rise in volume or elevation.  One might expect some increase from pumping 75 acre feet per day.  It's yet to be seen. 

February Water Use Doesn't Add Up

Twin Buttes Reservoir stood 1,225 acre feet emptier at the end of February.  The Bureau of Reclamation's February statistics said no water was lost to seepage or evaporation.  None went for Irrigation releases. 

Bureau statistics show Twin Buttes released 737 acre feet, 359 for municipal use and 378 acre feet to maintain Lake Nasworthy's water level.  What happened to the other 488 acre feet, almost 40% of the decrease?  The Bureau's website had no data under the Prior Rights category for 2013, but that had been at zero for the last five years,.

Weather doesn't appear to have been a factor, given cool temperatures and little rain:

At San Angelo Regional Airport, the average temperature for February was 52.3 degrees. This was 3.0 degrees above the normal average temperature of 49.3 degrees. Total precipitation for San Angelo was 0.39 inches. This was 0.96 inches below the normal of 1.35 inches.

How did 488 acre feet of Twin Buttes water disappear?  Surely the Bureau of Reclamation and the City of San Angelo have some idea as to what happened to missing 40%.  It could be a hole in the Bureau's numbers, given they built a leaky dam.  Then again, it could be something else.  How long before Water leaders shed light on this situation?

Update 4-21-13:  The City used roughly 858 acre feet in February.  Obviously, some of that water came from another source, Lake Ivie, Spence, but certainly not O.C. Fisher. 

Twin Buttes "Baja Style"

I heard a rumor the City wanted to drain the South Pool in order to let Dog the Bounty Hunter set up off road racing/recreation on the land.  I put that in the "horse hockey" category, knowing the Bureau of Reclamation would need to approve anything the City proposed.  However, the Twin Buttes Recreation Master Plan has the possibility of another local "loud engine" event.

The idea of an off-road “Baja-style” race to be held at Twin Buttes Recreation Area was presented by the San Angelo Dirt Riders, the Lucas Oil Baja organization, and the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce during this master planning process.

LucasOil has the boat races on Lake Nasworthy and off road racing at the City's Industrial Park.  San Angelo's future is bound up in oil, with the nearby Cline Shale formation.  It's also bound up in water, a necessary ingredient for well fracking.

Eagle Ford Shale wells use 3.5 million gallons per well.  The Cline Shale dwarfs the Eagle Ford and thousands of wells are expected.  Eagle Ford water use is 5-7% of water consumption in the region.  Our area is much drier with area lakes at distressed levels seen last summer.

Elected and business leaders see the future of San Angelo as oil.  The future is water.  Given most of the fresh water used in fracking is bound up underground, i.e. taken out of the natural cycle of evaporation, precipitation, ground soak, and runoff, I expect the desertification of West Texas to intensify.

How long before one can't tell the difference between San Angelo and Midland/Odessa?  Who would've thought Australia's post apocalyptic Mad Max to be indicative of San Angelo's future?

Local News Channel Uses TBR Blog Picture

KSAN gave a news update this morning on the City of San Angelo renegotiating ranchers's water rights in the hope of storing more water in Twin Buttes Reservoir.  After hearing this report I searched the web for more information but failed to find confirmation.

However, I did find a KLST story on pumping from last year.  It had a picture from this blog, taken from a post I'd written in early 2012 when the city went out to bid for a portable pumping system   The picture is from the North Pool and was taken at a time when pumping would not be needed.  May rain return and fill it to such levels quickly. 

Pumps Vector with Master Plan to Reduce South Pool Access

The Twin Buttes Recreation Master Plan vectors with the City's propensity to pump the South Pool, now an annual multi-month event.  Together they'll drastically reduce access to the South Pool, the area's only safe body of water for beginner windsurfers. 

The North Shore of the South Pool , marked by the red 1 above, has a gradual entry, which enables beginning windsurfers to learn in waist deep water.  This feature means less swimming fatigue.  Our prevailing South to Southwest winds blow struggling beginners back to shore, another critical safety element.  Access to this beach disappeared last weekend behind a locked gate   Gajeske's three monster pumps, capable of pumping 1 million gallons per day are back.

I windsurfed the South Pool for over a month before some chucklehead vandalized pumping equipment, ensuring no access except to those willing to walk from the locked gate to the water.  That's a long haul to carry a sailboard and sail. 

The "Master Plan" has windsurfers sailing from South Pool's Easterly corner, marked by the green 2 above.  It sits in a wind shadow under our prevailing South to Southwest winds.  It has a boat ramp, which makes for more hazardous entry and exit.

An overcrowded Lake Nasworthy is not safe for beginning windsurfers.  The North Pool at Twin Buttes has such varied topography.  Once the large island is completely exposed, i.e. cars can drive to it, the North Pool isn't safe to sail.

The Recreation Master Plan is no recreation for windsurfers, unless the City implements their "trusted user" program.  Having volunteered from 1995 to 1999 to clean up the City park at the North Pool, I'd like to think I'm trustworthy and a good steward of area water recreation resources.  I'll soon find out if the City feels likewise.

Update 4-16-13:  GoSanAngelo Columnist Bill Cullins e-mailed the following suggestion on securing the pumps and keeping public access to the South Pool.  "It would be relatively inexpensive to build a fenced enclosure to house the pumps (think 8 foot high, big gate for trucks, and barbed wire on top).  Doing that would allow normal access to the south-side beach."