West Texas Getting Thirsty

Robert W. Hart for The Texas Tribune

A pump house at Lake J. B. Thomas, about 30 miles northeast of Big Spring. The lake, a source of Permian Basin drinking water, is currently less than 5 percent full.

From the Texas Tribune:

The oil business is booming, but there is something more precious in Midland right now: water. Since the beginning of October, barely one-tenth of an inch of rain has fallen on the oil and gas capital of West Texas. Two of the three reservoirs that Midland and other Permian Basin communities rely on for most of their water are getting close to empty. The third is below 30 percent of capacity.
This month, for the first time, Midland imposed water restrictions, forcing homeowners to water their lawns less, and schools to let their football fields grow a little scrubbier.
If the rain does not start soon, “it’s going to get bad,” said Stuart Purvis, the utilities manager for Midland.
All of Texas is extremely dry, and the parched vegetation is fueling huge wildfires across the state — prompting Gov. Rick Perry to urge prayers for rain this weekend. But the situation in the Permian Basin is particularly serious. 
Without significant rain, all three reservoirs may be dry by January 2013, according to John Grant, the general manager for the Colorado River Municipal Water District, which supplies reservoir water to Midland, Odessa and several other cities. Lake Ivie (pictured) is the fullest at just below 30 percent capacity; the other two reservoirs are only about 5 percent and 2 percent full. The district also pumps some groundwater from Ward County, west of Odessa, but expanding production would require building a pipeline that would cost $75 million to $100 million and that engineers say would take 30 months (Grant thinks it could be done faster).