exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

There is another controversy at the southern border and this one involves water. Texas farmers and ranchers are demanding that Mexico honor its obligations under a decades-old treaty to provide water to the U.S. They are putting pressure on the Biden administration to push the Mexican government to do more.

Lake Conroe has been officially closed due to high lake levels, according to a news release sent out by the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constable's Office and the San Jacinto River Authority. As of 8 p.m., the lake level was 202.84 feet and the release from the Lake Conroe Dam had been increased to 12,490 cubic feet per second.

A boil water notice was issued for all City of Thorndale Water customers Monday morning. The city said a loss of pressure in the water distribution system caused by a mechanical issue at the City of Thorndale Water Treatment Plant was the reason behind the boil notice. The pressure loss happened around 5:15 a.m. Monday.

Residents in the golf course area are feeling the impacts of the city’s multi-million dollar project to enhance the capacity of the drainage system. Approximately 50 residents in the area attended a community meeting this week with city officials and representatives of Brystar Contracting Inc. to have their questions answered about the Stonegate Drainage Improvement Project.

The flood map is still a draft, but so far it’s bad news for some people in San Antonio — 1,900 more structures were added to the floodplain. All in this neighborhood in San Antonio’s Southwest side. That means if a 100-year-flood event were to happen, those structures, including homes, would experience severe flooding. 

The plan is called the Delta Region Water Management Project and local leaders on Thursday literally turned on a test tap, drawing in water that had been captured and held from rainwater and drainage ponds, and converted into what they hope is drinkable. The plan needs approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and funding from the state, but locals are optimistic that the water will flow freely one day.

Texas regulators are issuing permits to discharge large volumes of treated “produced water” into some waterways. Questions remain about the toxic pollutants found in the wastewater.

For decades, Mexico has failed to deliver the agreed-upon 350,000-acre feet of water per year to the United States, impacting the agricultural viability of South Texas, particularly amid severe drought conditions. Currently, the owed water volume has accumulated to over 750,000-acre feet, marking the highest delinquency at this point in the five-year cycle.

Today the Responsible Flushing Alliance (RFA) is celebrating "National Hug A Plumber Day" by encouraging consumers to follow smart flushing habits, including always looking for the "Do Not Flush" symbol on the front of non-flushable wipes such as baby wipes, cleaning wipes, and makeup removal wipes.

During Conroe City Council’s April 24 workshop meeting, City Engineer Chris Bogert told council he has serious concerns about the city’s water capacity and said development is outpacing infrastructure.

The City of Silverton in Briscoe County was awarded $14,990,000 from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) overseen by the Texas Water Development Board to tap into a new water source. This will help reduce the water demand the City of Silverton gets from Lake Mackenzie.

Officials in Prosper and Celina have agreed to allocate funds toward expanding the Upper Trinity Regional Water District Doe Branch Water Reclamation Plant, a wastewater treatment plant servicing both communities.

On Wednesday, the city council approved an update to Tyler Water Utilities’ (TWU) Water Conservation Drought Contingency Emergency Demand Management Plan. Conservation goals were updated for 2029 and 2034, including potential future conservation measures for landscape water management with native or drought-tolerant plants and encouraging rainwater harvesting with rain barrels for non-potable uses.

El Paso Water officials identified the man who died after being "trapped in a confined space" at Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant in Socorro Friday afternoon.

Juvenile alligators spotted in the Brazos River at Waco have sparked a 'heightened level of public concern' over the past year.

Prolonged droughts and little rainfall threaten to dry up Central Texas groundwater systems, but direct potable reuse—a purification method that creates drinking water from treated wastewater—could be a solution.

In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 25 simultaneously finalized four major environmental rules covering greenhouse gases (GHG), air toxics, wastewater discharges, and coal combustion residuals from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

A new baseball complex could be coming to Roanoke soon, as Roanoke City Council members approved a final plat for the Roanoke Baseball Complex in late March.

The council agenda memo stated the complex will be located on 110 acres of land northwest of Fairway Ranch, fronting Cleveland Gibbs Road and SH 114.

Anthony, Texas was among a list of 49 Texas public water utility systems that do not meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard for the amount of "forever chemicals" in drinking water. 

The approximately 60-acre body of water was created by a leak from a former oil well. Now, a local groundwater conservation district is trying to prove the Railroad Commission of Texas has the authority and responsibility to plug it.