Wichita Falls water troubles continue to get worse.  Weather experts who just three months ago were predicting that El Nino would bring relief in October and November now say it will likely miss us altogether.  But, they've been wrong (frequently) in the past, so let's not give up hope just yet.  The prolonged drought has left us with the least amount of water we’ve had in Lake Arrowhead’s conservation pool since the 1960’s.

What exactly is the ‘conservation pool’?  The Brazos River Authority defines it this way:

A specified amount of water dedicated to water storage. This water is to be used to meet water needs, including municipal, domestic, agricultural, industrial, and recreational.

The recreational aspects of Arrowhead began disappearing back in 2012.  That’s the last time I tried to fish the lake.  It was Father’s Day.  The water was at least 10 feet below the public dock.  I was standing on rocks on the shore line I’d never even seen before.  The water level, in spite of unprecedented conservation efforts, continues to drop.  The bulk of the water is lost to evaporation.  The conservation pool is disappearing and fast.

We are doing everything we can to conserve.  We have to maintain at least a minimum of sanitation, otherwise we open the door to diseases and infections that none of us has any real immunity to.  We can’t water lawns, wash cars in our driveways, commercial car washes are forced to close two days a week and restaurants can’t power wash anything unless they truck the water in.  Short of pulling out our water meters, you and I are doing all we can reasonably be expected to do under the circumstances.  I’m quite certain that most of us have gone above and beyond in our own homes, too.

Today, the City of Wichita Falls released a video that illustrates the water loss as seen from space.  The LandSat images show Arrowhead from 2010-2014.  The change is shocking.  See the video below.

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