Texas drought visible in new national groundwater maps The
record-breaking drought in Texas that has fueled wildfires,
decimated crops and forced cattle sales has also reduced levels
of groundwater in much of the state to the lowest levels seen in
more than 60 years, according to new national maps produced by
NASA and distributed by the National Drought Mitigation Center
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The latest groundwater
map, released on Nov. 29, shows large patches of maroon over
eastern Texas, indicating severely depressed groundwater levels.
The maps, generated weekly by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md., are publicly available on the Drought
Center's website. "Texas groundwater will take months or longer
to recharge," said Matt Rodell, a hydrologist based at Goddard.
"Even if we have a major rainfall event, most of the water runs
off. It takes a longer period of sustained greater-than-average
precipitation to recharge aquifers significantly." The maps are
based on data from N