Monday, September 05, 2011
Dams work.
Seemed to me that the drought might be hurting Texas more than Okla because Texas is short on dams and reservoirs. Just a visual impression based on maps and memories.
Looked up some facts to check the impression:
Raw facts: Oklahoma has about 13 million acre-feet stored in major reservoirs, not counting farm ponds and such. Okla has about 3.6 million people.
Raw facts: Texas has about 25 million acre-feet in major reservoirs. Texas has 24 million people.
So in proportion, Okla has three times as much water per person. Or by land area, Okla has more than twice as much water per square mile, but not quite thrice.
My visual impression turned out to be correct.
Okla acquired its abundant reservoirs from two political impulses, which seemed like boondoggles to many at the time: First, the major Midwest flood of 1951 gave the Corps of Engineers enough momentum to equip most of the Plains states with new dams. Second, Okla state politicians had a habit of building monuments to simultaneously serve the people and reflect their own glory.
Storage is the key to civilization. Aside from human purposes, large bodies of water also work directly against drought. When more of the surface is water, evaporation cools the air and aids the development of rain. Dams work, dammit. So dam it, dammit! ¶ 3:33 AM
Looked up some facts to check the impression:
Raw facts: Oklahoma has about 13 million acre-feet stored in major reservoirs, not counting farm ponds and such. Okla has about 3.6 million people.
Raw facts: Texas has about 25 million acre-feet in major reservoirs. Texas has 24 million people.
So in proportion, Okla has three times as much water per person. Or by land area, Okla has more than twice as much water per square mile, but not quite thrice.
My visual impression turned out to be correct.
Okla acquired its abundant reservoirs from two political impulses, which seemed like boondoggles to many at the time: First, the major Midwest flood of 1951 gave the Corps of Engineers enough momentum to equip most of the Plains states with new dams. Second, Okla state politicians had a habit of building monuments to simultaneously serve the people and reflect their own glory.
Storage is the key to civilization. Aside from human purposes, large bodies of water also work directly against drought. When more of the surface is water, evaporation cools the air and aids the development of rain. Dams work, dammit. So dam it, dammit! ¶ 3:33 AM
