Drought of 2010-2011 Causes Water Supply Crises throughout Northeastern Texas and Northwestern Louisiana

Gary Hanson, Douglas Carlson, and Amanda Lewis
¹ Louisiana State University–Shreveport, Shreveport, Louisiana 71115
² Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803

The drought of 2010–2011 throughout Texas and northwest Louisiana was extreme where rainfall was far below average rainfall. This drought causes large decreased of recharge rates from typical average values as determined by baseflow analysis for over 20 watersheds. The drought no only decreased recharge into the aquifer but also increased demand of water because of both the lack of rainfall and the extremely hot weather associated with the drought during the growing season. This reduction of recharge and increase in demand in turned caused potentiometric levels to fall rapidly and then the crisis of water supply experienced in communities throughout northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana. A number of actions were taken to mitigate the impacts of the drought. These include but were not limited to voluntary and mandatory bans of lawn sprinkling, use of ground water for other than drinking, cooking, and bathing, use of ground water for hydraulic fracturing, etc. The impact of this drought was often sudden and required emergency actions to avoid crises of having no ground water and in some cases any potable water available for domestic use in communities throughout the drought region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90158©2012 GCAGS and GC-SEPM 6nd Annual Convention, Austin, Texas, 21-24 October 2012