Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 181
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WATER RESOURCES OF TEXAS
pal tributary. *Basln, 16,805 sq. ml Upper
courses of both Nueces and Frio are spring-
fed by the Edwards limestone but most of
flow goes underground at passage of Balcones
fault line. Flow in lower channels is highly
Irregular. (See pp. 552-553 for volume of
flow.) Principal reservoir is Lake Corpus
Christi on the Nueces in Live Oak-San Pa-
tricio Counties, with 64,000 acre-feet. A total
of 1,576,943 acre-feet of twater appropriations
has been made to 122 appropriators, and per-
mits for storage of 1,734,429 acre-feet granted.
Principal tentative projects are a large reser-
voir for Corpus Christi below Lake Corpus
Christi, the Garner or Shut-in project on the
Frio in Uvalde County and several alternative
projects along the Nueces near Cotulla in
Frio. Entire watershed is covered by the
Nueces River Conservation and Reclamation
District. (See p. 328 for officials.)
Rio Grande.-Rises on the Continental Di-
vide in Southwestern Colorado, flows through
New Mexico and thence for 889 miles (count-
ing only the larger swings of the channel) as
the boundary line between the United States
(Texas) and Mexico. In its total length it is
one of the longer streams of North America.
In its upper reaches it has the character of a
spring-fed, snow-fed mountain stream, in its
middle course that of a desert stream and in
its lower course that of a typical irregularly
flowing stream in semiarid climate. Three
fourths of the flow in the lower course is
from Mexico. Principal tributaries on Texas
side are Pecos and Devil's Rivers. *Basin in
Texas, 40,616 square miles. (See pp. 552-553
for flow of Rio Grande and tributaries.)
tWater appropriations total 6,538,874 acre-feet
to fifty-seven appropriators, with permits for
storage of 712,246 acre-feet. Nearly all of the
appropriation is for irrigation, largely in the
Lower Rio Grande Valley though smaller irri-
gation acreages are near Laredo, Eagle Pass
and Del Rio, and in El Paso and Hudspeth
Counties are about 70,000 acres irrigated from
Flephant Butte Dam in N. Mexico. Because
of the international cha 'er of the stream
no impounding project was possible until the
treaty between the United States and Mexico
in 1945. (By the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
in 1848, the middle of the stream was fixed
as the boundary line and the waters were
equally apportioned between the two coun-
tries.) Because of lack of definite agreement
for use of floodwaters, the h rigated acreage
on the United States side has grown so large
along the lower course that there is a water
shortage dulng periods of low flow. The sit-
uation has been made more serious in recent
years by the construction of reservoirs on the
tributaries in Mexico and by the increased
diversion of waters from the Rio Grande on
that side Under the treaty of 1945 three in-
ternational dams are authorized Congress
appropriated $8,000,000 for beginning the con-
struction of the first of these below Zapata,
Zapata County, under -supervision of the
tInternational Boundary and Water Commis-
sion. Several sites are under survey for the
other two reservoirs.
Pecos.-A tributary of the Rio Grande, It is
considered separately because of the different
political problems affecting it. Rising in Cen-
tral New Mexico it flows 270 miles through
Texas, the last 90 miles in a box canyon, the
upper 180 through an alluvial valley. Prin-
cipal source of water is the mountain region
of New Mexico which is largely impounded in
that state. Red Bluff Dam and Reservoir on
the Loving-Reeves County line has a capacity
of 300,000 acre-feet but has fallen below antic-
ipated storage in recent years because of lack
of flow from New Mexico. There is consider-
able acreage under irrigation in Ward and
Pecos Counties, partly from Red Bluff Reser-
voir and partly from wells and springs in the
Fort Stockton and Balmorhea areas. Lake Bal-
morhea fed by San Solomon Springs in
Reeves County with 7,248 acre-feet capacityand Leon Springs Lake on Leon Creek in
Pecos County, 6,000 acre-feet, are reservoirs
for Irrigation. The Pecos River Compact Com-
mission, consisting of one commissioner each
from Texas and New Mexico, has been nego-
tiating for several years for a division of
waters between Texas and New Mexico, and
early in 1947, tentative but not final, terms
had been reached.
Devil's River.-A tributary of the Rio
Grande, this stream rises in Sutton County
and flows about 100 miles to its confluence
with the border stream. With a basin in a
semiarid area, its flow is largely from
springs in the Edwards limestone There are
two lakes in Val Verde County, Lake Walk
and Lake Hamilton, with 3.500 acre-feet and
45,700 acre-feet, respectively, utilized for
power production by a private utility.
Diablo Plateau Basin or Bolson.-This basin
is cut off from drainage to the ocean by the
Guadalupe, Delaware, Davis. Van Horn.
Hueco and other mountain ranges. The scant
rainfall of 10 to 15 inches flows into the Salt
Lakes, or Salt Flats, lying near the Guadalupe
Mountains. (See p. 270.)
Coastal Streams.-There are a number of
short coastal streams including Taylor Bayou,
Chocolate Bayou. Bastrop Bayou, Oyster
Creek, San Bernard River, Caney Creek, Mis-
sion River. Aransas River, San Fernando
Creek and Los Olmos Creek, that have a total
drainage area of 27,675 square miles. There
are no large reservoir developments on them,
but the lower channels of several of them
have been developed for light draft barge
traffic tributary to the Intracoastal Canal.
(See p. 300.)
Ground Water Resources
The ground (underground) water resources
of Texas are great and there has been greatly
increased utilization in the last decade. Of the
837 public water supplies of the state, 681
are drawn entirely from ground reservoirs,
according to the State Board of Water Engi-
neers. Total withdrawal for this purpose dur-
ing 1945 was 270,000,000 gallons daily. Use of
ground waters for municipal supply has in-
creased about 70 per cent in the last ten
years About 289,000,000 gallons daily of
ground water are used for industrial purposes,
according to the board, about twice the
amount ten years ago. In 1946 ground waters
were used for irrigation of 650,000 acres, as
compared with 120,000 acres in 1930
In most of the ground water areas the
water table has been lowered by the greatly
increased consumption though there are ex-
ceptions. notably the Wharton-Jackson area.
Research as to extent of depletion of these
reserves, and preventive measures, is being
conducted by the State Board of Water Engi-
neers and U.S. Geological Survey, co-operat-
ing. Principal ground water areas of Texas
are as follows.
High Plains.-Increase in utilization of
ground waters for irrigation in this area in
the last twelve years has been unequaled any-
where in the nation, according to the State
Board of Water Engineers. In 1935 there were
300 irrigation wells, Irrigating 35,000 acres. In
1946 there were 4.300 wells, irrigating 550,000
acres This development covers a wide area
but has centered in Hale County The Plains
reservoir is in the Ogallala formation.
El Paso Area.-Ground water used for pub-
lic and industrial purposes increased from
13,600,000 gallons daily in 1933 to 25.600,000
in 1943 and declined to 21.250.000 in 1945.
Reservoirs are in the outwash (bolson)
deposits.
*Area in Texas drained by main stream and
tributaries.
tGrants by the Texas State Board of Water
Engineers. (See p. 329 for membership.)
U.S. member of this commission is L. M. Law-
son, 627 First National Bank Bldg., El Paso, Texas.
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Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/183/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.