It is known that the majority of Texas is currently experiencing a drought that started in October 2010. Most of the state has been under drought conditions for over three years. The situation reached a new level of urgency in late January of 2012 when wells in the town of Spicewood Beach, Texas officially ran out of water. As of June, 2014, 70 percent of Texas is still in drought conditions, while 21 percent is in the worst two stages of drought, either extreme or exceptional drought.
Cuurently, total storage in 114 of the state’s major water supply reservoirs was at 20.3 million acre-feet, or 65% of their total conservation storage capacity. This is 742,812 acre-feet less than a month ago. Based on the annual rain fall data, East Texas receives the most and West Texas the least. However TWDB records show that there is more water evaporating than there is rainfall in Texas. Texas is in a Drought cycle as it happens once in every 7 years.
The oil drillers use Carrizo Wilcox aquifer for fracking areas in Maverick County. In some counties oil drillers require a permit while in others (ex. Dimmit County) drillers can pump as much water as they want without a permit.
The Dimmit County is located next to Maverick County Ground water withdrawals from the local Carrizo Wilcox aquifer used for fracking exceeds by 1/3 the amount of water recharged in the aquifer annually. Approximately 175 counties in TX are under water restriction. 6 of these counties are on emergency level and 17 are on Priority with varying stages of importance.
It is known that there is enough ground water available (approximately 2.7 billion acres of feet) to support Texas for the next 176 years, but it is too brackish. However the cost of converting the brackish water to portable water would be enormous. Texas is one of the fastest growing states in the U.S. The population is projected to increase to over 46 million by 2060. If Texas maintains its current rate of water use without finding a way either to conserve significant amounts of water or to develop new sources, the state will experience a gap between demand and availability.