While the water available
to fi refi ghters doesn’t have to be of drinking-water quality, it has to be relatively clean and clear to be drafted into fi refi ghting apparatus.
fi re often depends on where you are in the state. In West Texas, there’s a lot of ashe juniper to fuel fi res. Having stock tanks available, particularly those that are on a slope system, are immensely valuable. A tank that holds 8,000 to 10,000 gallons can mean the fi re engine is able to return quickly to the fi ght, as opposed to the crew having to take it to town or to a large, natural body of water. While the water doesn’t have to be of drinking-water
quality, it has to be relatively clean and clear to be drafted into fi refi ghting apparatus. Dirty sedimented water, preferably not stagnant or heavily algaed, can be harmful to the pumps that draw it in. The crews also have to keep the local environment and their own safety in mind, and don’t want to use water associ- ated with petroleum development for fear of chemical contamination. TFS encourages local Texas fi re departments — most
of which are manned by volunteers — to use those lo- cal water resources when available. Vidmar notes, “Many times you’re dealing with the
neighbors and ranchers as well, so they’re very savvy and sensitive to whatever issues may come around. They’re going to be able to understand what constitutes good, clean, usable water and what doesn’t, and many times they’re going to be the ones who will actually be able to say, ‘You can use this stock tank in this pasture, but we would prefer that you not use the stock tank in that pasture because it takes longer to fi ll, and we’ve got cattle over here.’”
What fi re does to stock tanks The fi re could also leave the water in the stock tank
unacceptable to the cattle, if only temporarily. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Range Specialist Dr. Alyson McDonald is based in Fort Stockton, and works with county Extension agents and landowners in a geographic area ranging from El Paso to Lubbock, Big Spring and Del Rio, on aspects of range ecology and management. She says that in a fi re much of the vegetation is re-
tscra.org
moved, leaving the soil exposed for erosion. Oftentimes, our dirt tanks or stock tanks are located at a low point in the landscape to gather runoff water, so sometimes sediment production can be exacerbated by anything that can reduce plant cover, but especially fi re. While the sediment itself typically doesn’t alter the
taste or the palatability of the water, those can be af- fected by the ash and smoke accompanying the fi re. While those effects are just temporary, a ranch or one of its pastures may be reliant upon immediate avail- ability of a particular water supply. That’s not typically the case in her part of the coun-
try. “Out west, stock tanks are common, but we don’t rely on them solely, because our rainfall is much more erratic than it is further east,” she says. “Most ranchers have groundwater and surface water is just a bonus during wet years.” If a producer does face an emergency, McDonald
says he can take steps to mitigate extreme sedimenta- tion of a water supply. “You can apply chemicals that cause small particles to clump together and settle to the bottom of the tank,” she says, “but often times, it takes time. Agitation by wind can help to dissipate smoke and relieve issues like low dissolved oxygen.” Sometimes, if a lot of nutrients get washed into the
water with the sediment, a “blue-green algae” bloom can appear. Actually a type of bacteria that is sometimes toxic, blue-green algae can be harmful to wildlife and make the water unpalatable to livestock. The bloom will normally appear a few days to weeks
after the event. The landowner can monitor the water for clarifi cation by using a device called the Secchi disk. It is lowered by pole or line into the water until the disk is no longer visible, and the depth is measured against a chart to determine the water’s level of trans- parency and, therefore, its degree of algae population. You can also take a sample and send it to a lab to
see whether it is toxic. Still, if the rancher has access to another, non-surface water supply, it can be best just to wait for the effects caused by the bacteria to dissipate. McDonald says that the tainted water could be
pumped out if it’s an overfl ow tank from a water well, “but as far as surface water, if you remove the water
The fi re could leave the water
in the stock tank unacceptable to the cattle.
May 2016 The Cattleman 55
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