Riedel Communities

According to an article at TAMU.edu, Texas rangeland accounts for sixty percent of the area of Texas.  Rain that falls on Texas rangeland accounts for the majority of water that recharges our aquifers yet it is estimated that barely one percent of that rainfall actually makes it into our sub-surface water supply.  Forty-two percent evaporates directly back into the atmosphere and Forty-seven percent is lost through plant transpiration. The remaining ten percent is runoff that becomes stream flow.

Stream flow is obviously a necessity for our rivers and lakes that provide not only our surface supply of water but also recreational needs which ironically contributes to the attraction of the Texas Hill Country and additional demand for potable water. Don’t forget where our cities dump their sewers?

Despite the necessities of stream flow, recapturing a small portion of that runoff through rainwater harvesting systems could significantly reduce our demand on sub-surface water.  The precious one percent that makes it back into our aquifers will simply not sustain the current growth of the Texas Hill Country.