Quote:Dartz wrote:[url=http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/epa-fugitives].... That would have to be a dam nearly ... st Aquifer composed of sponge-like, porous limestone riddled with large conduits. Some of the water that comes up out of the wells out west of San Antonio could very well have been from rain that fell as little as a week ago. All those creeks and streams you see on that map contribute to the aquifer as they pass over the exposed Karst formations. And as we all know, a lot of small trickles can make for one heck of a flood.
Huh.... Lake Antonio though. Just think about it. Maybe trapped by a cofferdam caused by the city's construction. A brand new tourist attraction and hydropower opportunity if you control the releases down the San Antonio river.[/url]
(The batshit* crazy thing about our Karst Aquifer as opposed to others: San Antonio is the only city in the world that does not need to treat its water. This is because the Edwards Aquifer has the unusual propensity to emulate a wastewater treatment plant. It has everything - dilution, settlement areas, filtration zones, and even a biological process. The problem is while we have evidence of its existence, no one's been able to get concrete proof besides crawdads and blind catfish showing up in major wells.)*Pun intended - it is hypothesized that bat guano from caves in the recharge zone is one possible contributor to the unusually high nitrate levels in wells in the western part of the Edwards.
So, now you know the scale of what we'd be dealing with. the outflow is going to be ridiculous in the extreme and there is going to be no easy containment except maybe reverse engineering the Mad's 'Wavium Seed. And that would be chancy as all hell as you'd run the risk of contaminating the Aquifer with Handwavium if it hasn't been already. (And if it has already.... Holy Shit. I have no words...)
Seriously, the river it would create (hopefully temporary) would be a horrifying sight. With Texas soil being so easily eroded, it would quickly carve its way down into the soft limestone bedrock and become a Class 5 Whitewater Rapids... maybe even a Class 5+. (Dunno if it'd make Class 6 - not enough sudden drops from San Antonio out to Corpus Christi.) The damage would be nothing less than catastrophic, perhaps even biblical in proportions.
You see, we've always had issues with flooding here in Texas. For example, the River Walk was originally a series of storm drains intended to keep the downtown area from flooding. It didn't work out as well as hoped, and it was eventually converted into riverside shops and cantinas (and even the occasional pub - as authentic as we can make it and still exist in the USA). We had much better success with the Olmos Dam Project - a large dam to collect the flood waters of the Olmos Creek where int runs through San Antonio and slowly release it back into the creek. Fairly recently, the Army Corps of Engineers completed pair of very large flood control tunnels that run under the downtown area. Just in time, too, because on the next rainy season hit, it hit hard enough that the new tunnels were truly hard pressed to keep up. This webpage for the San Antonio River Authority has a short list of past projects. Very interesting reading if you're into civil engineering.