Drought may be over in Texas
From Texas Government Insider Newsletter, May 4, 2007
Drought conditions that have plagued many areas of Texas in the past couple of years have been lessened considerably after recent storms across the state have dropped welcomed rain. Many parts of the state have been parched over the last 24 months, leading to wildfires that destroyed property and livestock and in some cases loss of human life. Agriculture also suffered, as crops were lost to the heat and drought. Ranchers scrambled to find hay for their livestock as pastures became barren of grass.
While recent storms have wreaked havoc to property and caused numerous weather-related deaths, lake levels in many areas of the state are rising. The state's total reservoir storage is 38,761,340 acre-feet. Texas Water Development Board figures from yesterday showed the total state storage at 31,547,240 acre-feet, or 81.39 percent of capacity. That compares to a low of 79.9 percent over the past 30 days, recorded on April 16, when the storage amount was 30,891,790 acre-feet. A number of lakes in the state are at 100 percent capacity or more - such as Lake Amon G. Carter near Bowie, Belton Lake at Belton, Canyon Lake southwest of Austin, Caddo Lake near Marshall in Harrison County, Lake Conroe near Houston, Lake Georgetown between Austin and Waco, Lake O' the Pines in Northeast Texas near Avinger, Lake Palestine in Smith County and Lake Texoma on the Texas-Oklahoma border.
Many of the state's larger lakes and reservoirs' volumes are increasing. Lake Livingston in Polk County, with more than 1.7 million acre-feet of storage, is at more than 104 percent capacity. On the other hand, some other large reservoirs range from 63 to 98 percent of capacity. The Sam Rayburn Reservoir, near Jasper in East Texas, with a volume of more than 2.8 million acre-feet, is at 98.75 percent capacity; Toledo Bend, near the Texas-Louisiana border, with a volume of more than 4.4 million acre-feet, is at 95.84 percent capacity; Lake Travis in Austin, with more than 1.1 million acre-feet volume, is at 84 percent; and Lake Buchanan, on the Colorado River in Burnet County, with a volume of more than 885,000 acre-feet is at 63.78 percent.
BSE Case Confirmed in British Columbia
From Canadian Food Inspection Agency News Release
OTTAWA, May 2, 2007 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a mature dairy cow from British Columbia. The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems.
Preliminary information indicates that the age of the animal (66 months) falls well within the age range of previous cases detected in Canada and is consistent with the recognized average incubation period of the disease. This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of infective material, most likely during its first year of life.
An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is underway to identify the animal's herdmates at the time of birth and the
pathways by which it might have become infected. All findings will be publicly released once the investigation concludes.
Canada has a suite of robust BSE control measures which exceeds the recommended international standards. Assessment of Canada's programs by
the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has resulted in a recommendation for recognition as a controlled risk country. The OIE categorization process is based on an evaluation of the comprehensive set of risk mitigation measures implemented by a given country.
Canada has taken all necessary measures to achieve the eventual elimination of BSE from the national cattle herd. The enhanced feed ban, which comes into effect on July 12, 2007, will prevent more than 99 percent of potential BSE infectivity from entering the Canadian feed system. The CFIA expects to detect a small number of cases over the next 10 years as Canada progresses towards its goal of eliminating the disease from the national cattle heard.
The British Columbia animal was identified at the farm level by the national surveillance program, which has detected all cases found in Canada. The program targets cattle most at risk and has tested about 160,000 animals since 2003. The surveillance results reflect an extremely low incidence of BSE in Canada.
It is not unexpected to find BSE-infected animals born after the feed ban. This has proven to be the case in most other countries with targeted surveillance programs, similar to that in Canada. For information visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Web site.
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