“Let Me Up. I’ve Had Enough”

Great Title from a Great Floridian

Tom Petty, a Florida boy, could be Governor of that State next time around. At least that is what I think … as a State I make a significant percentage of TFC income from, is about to get pounded beyond recognition. That title sums up a lot of Florida’s feelings way too simply of course.

Hurricane Milton

I am proud that, my many friends in Florida are taking heed of the warnings, and running as fast and far as they can. That they run? tells you what you need to know. This looks like “the one.” But why? That question is one that a person who I knew well, and rated his own IQ very highly, used to ask as a final defense in our business debates. Is it global warming that is making the Gulf region States a crapshoot? Is it luck? Perhaps divine? Election rigging in Florida? This hurricane sounds so bad as to possibly transcend what we have historically come to know about these meteorological phenomena.

Local Water Woes

Fast forward to Denton, Texas, where water restrictions have been lifted. The damage to intakes on Lake Lewisville have been repaired and water supply to this town of, what, 200-thousand people? is now restored. I contacted the City when the restrictions came, to find out just how they declared a “drought” and implemented their restrictions, and the response was (let me keep it simple): It isn’t raining as much this year, month-over-month. That is an accurate paraphrase.

My response to that was what you should come to expect. Both lakes (where Denton gets water) are above conservation pool and releasing water, billions of gallons, to run down the Trinity and eventually to the Gulf. (This was a couple months ago) And it wasn’t a trickle, the releases were epic and the length of time the dams were open was biblical. So how could there be a drought?

It has taken me many years to get into my head: The USACE does not cooperate with local city entities when it comes to water supply. The cities don’t take future demands into mind. There’s hardly more storage than there was ten, twenty years ago. Basic water economics, which I began writing, and interviewing economists about in the late 1980’s, is incomprehensible to these folks. Many of the City of Denton’s talking heads on this topic – weren’t even born yet.

In my opinion, the future of water for Denton, Texas, is not actually more lakes or more pipes to other sources. The solution is storage, and the smart money would be on non-evaporative storage.

But all next year, I will lay out an idea that could expand Denton’s water supply, create a uniquely self-stocking fishy lake inside city limits, with self-sustaining water circulation, and become a recreational magnet that would change Denton forever. Imagine a “town lake.” And it’ll never happen.

Texas Drought Map Now

Drought is continuing to creep back into Texas from several directions, but you see that the Rio Grande Valley is off the drought map now! Good for my Borderland friends. East Texas looks a bit unusual because they have been pretty drought resistant in recent years, but this dry spell is creeping in on them as well. All the Red River counties north of Fish Camp are in drought, as are the counties immediately south of those. Troublesome.

ON PHOTOGRAPHY

If you know where any abundance of the sunfish family exists – close to the DFW area – let me know! I am anxious to try out the new Nikon 105 Macro Z lens! That lens has me rethinking ALL my YouTube Fly Tying videos – thinking about redoing them for the sake of that lens, and for the fact that YouTube didn’t allow me to upload high resolution videos for a number of vital years.

Tags: #flyfishing, #texasflycaster, drought monitor, florida, florida fly fishing, fly fishing, hurricane, hurricane milton, texas drought, texas fly fishing

Category: Denton Trinity River Greenbelt Corridor, Life Observed, Science and Environmental, South Texas, Texas Water Conservation