The Stream, April 15: Comprehensive Water Reform Emerging in Texas

In Texas, no water means no business, reporter Kate Galbraith writes in The New York Times. She charts Texas’ multi-pronged water-reform efforts as a severe drought that began in 2010 rolls on. The state Senate, House of Representatives, regulatory agencies, and even court systems are joining the effort.

Scarcity by Mismanagement
In many places around the world, water mismanagement contributes more to scarcity than climate change. From villagers selling their water to local industries to irrigating desert, New Security Beat reports, human activity is draining aquifers at a dangerous rate.

Explaining the Drought
The 2012 drought — the most severe to strike the United States since 1895 — was caused primarily by natural swings in wind patterns and humidity across the Great Plains and Gulf of Mexico. Those meteorological barriers blocked summer moisture from moving into the Great Plains, National Geographic reported, and stopped rain-causing cold fronts north of the Canadian border.

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