State water agency sees drought relief in forecast

State water officials were optimistic that drought relief was on the way even as more of Texas slipped into drought conditions last week. The Water Weekly report by the Texas Water Development Board showed that 86 percent of the state was affected by drought conditions the week of Sept. 11, compared with 76 percent a week earlier and 62 percent a year ago.

In July, just 28 percent of Texas reported drought conditions, the report said.

“Weekly drought increases were the norm all summer as a high-pressure dome over Texas reduced rain chances and raised temperatures,” the TWDB said. “That dome is now gone, improving our chances for drought relief.”

Andrew Weinberg, a geoscientist in the TWDB’s groundwater division, said August was “the hottest and the fourth driest August for our state in data going back to 1895.”

At the end of last month, storage in the state’s water supply reservoirs was at approximately 69 percent of capacity, more than 13 percentage points below normal for the time of year, he said. Groundwater is likewise showing the effects of drought, with many districts imposing restrictions on pumping and water use, he said.

But the August weather and groundwater report was not all bad news.

Thanks to remnants of Tropical Storm Harold, some parts of South Texas did receive above-normal rainfall, Mr. Weinberg said.

The rest of the state showed the largest extent of drought since the end of August 2022. Central Texas was hit especially hard, and some counties have been in exceptional drought for much of the summer. Water wells are failing at an unprecedented rate. No new permits for production or nonexempt well construction will be issued until conditions improve. Similar water use restrictions are in place for most of the groundwater districts across the Central Texas area.

Hot and dry conditions have also had an impact on the state’s surface water reservoirs, he said. “At the end of August, supplies are at 69 percent of capacity, 13 percentage points lower than normal for this time of year,” he said. “That’s almost two percentage points lower than last year but still about four-and-a-half percentage points more than during 2011.”

The latest seasonal drought outlook from the National Weather Service shows that the hotter and drier- than-normal conditions that plagued Texas this summer are expected to persist into the early fall, he said. The drought could persist and expand to the Panhandle through the end of November, he said.

“On a longer time frame, the outlook is better for Texas,” Mr. Weinberg said. “El Niño conditions, warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific, are in place and expected to persist into next year. El Niño typically brings Texas wetter and cooler-than-normal conditions during fall and winter, which should hopefully bring widespread drought relief to our state before the end of the year.”

If you’d like to know more about water conditions in Texas, check out the Water Development Board’s Water Data for Texas website, waterdatafortexas.org.