Evapotransporation in Texas

Evapotransporation in Texas

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
As Texas, California, even many states in the great Northwest where we rarely think of water as being a problem, face challenges in securing water for a rapidly growing population, many are looking to the private working lands that dominate every state's landscape. For example, in Texas more than 90% of the rain falls on private lands. How those lands are managed influences how much and for how long rainwater reaches the aquifers and reservoirs from which most Texans draw their water. The actual hydrologic processes in a given watershed, however, are complex and difficult to characterize. Richland-Chambers reservoir supplies 40% of the water for the Fort Worth, Texas area—currently 1.9 million residents. Its nearly 2000 square mile watershed is 80% agricultural (57% row crop and 23% rangeland or pasture). Lying within the Blackland Prairie ecoregion, grazing lands in the watershed host bermuda grass and other introduced grasses, mesquite brush, and isolated patches of native prairie. Award-winning ranchers Gary and Sue Price and Dr. Bill Fox of the Texas A&M Blacklands Research Center are conducting an ongoing study of water infiltration, runoff, and evapotranspiration at the Price's ranch. What is evapotranspiration? Here's Bill Cramber, Senior Remote Sensing Analyst at Harvard University: "Evapotransporation is the amount of water evaporated from land or transpired from vegetation and it's synonymous with consumptive use or the amount of water used by irrigation." There are many strategies to efficiently prioritize and incentivize water conserving management practices on private ranches.

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