exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

The Tyler City Council has approved the more than $3 million John Soules Food Waterline Extension project. The construction contract is with A.E. Shull & Company and the extension will add 14,700 linear feet of a new 16-inch diameter water line to the John Soules Foods plant, located at 10150 FM 14.

Water utilities throughout the United States will need to spend $625 billion over the next 20 years to fix, maintain, and improve the country’s drinking water infrastructure, according to preliminary results of a periodic assessment done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That key finding of the survey, completed in 2021 and finalized in a report to Congress in September, represents a 33% increase, not accounting for inflation, from the almost $469 billion reported in the 2015 version of the Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA).

Last week, after the city of Kyle realized it has already used 102% of its allotted water from the Edwards Aquifer for the year, they struck a friendly neighbor deal with the city of San Marcos, which voted to sell a portion of its water rights to Kyle. It's a temporary solution, just until the end of the year, but it begs larger questions about long-range water planning in the Hill Country. For instance: What happens if both cities run out of water at once?

Along a parched stretch of La Salle County, Texas, workers last year dug some 700 feet deep into the ground, seeking fresh water. Millions of gallons of it. The water wouldn’t supply homes or irrigate farms. It was being used by petroleum giant BP to frack for fossil fuels. The water would be mixed with sand and toxic chemicals and pumped right back underground — forcing oil and gas from the bedrock.

Amarillo officials are providing updates on their plans for an improvement project at the Hollywood Road Wastewater Treatment Facility. The plant is almost 60 years old and officials say this has led to a significant amount of equipment and infrastructure that is deteriorating and is almost at a point of failure.

A water main leak has caused the City of Port Arthur’s water system pressure in the Highland Heights and the Taft Additions to fall below the 20 psi State requirement. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has required the City of Port Arthur public water system to notify all customers to boil their water prior to consumption. 

Nuisance water is a phrase given to “unwanted” runoff that collects in a city’s urban areas. However, Civic Park will be giving nuisance water collected under the Henry B. González Convention Center a new purpose: supplying the park’s unique water features and irrigation system.

All three spills happened at the Hollywood Road plant at 3700 S.E. Loop 335.  Each time, the city said the discharge was caused by "flow and organics loading overburdening the treatment system."

The suburb southwest of Houston has more than doubled in population during the last few years. Its explosive growth as well as prolonged hot and dry weather have contributed to capacity and pressure issues within Fulshear's water supply.

With water levels continuing to sink and ground across both Kendall County and much of the Lone Star state, the Kendall County Commissioners Court opted to extend its drought disaster emergency declaration Monday, September 25. In Kendall County, conditions remain dry with the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District – the elected officials in charge of regulating water use in the Hill Country county – entering its most severe drought stage earlier in July and remaining there through September. This marks the lengthiest and most severe drought restrictions placed on county water users in recent memory.

The El Niño weather pattern could lead to a wetter winter, but temperatures should stay consistent with past years.

After conducting a high-tech survey of red-crowned parrots, Amazona viridigenalis, a team of scientists were surprised to discover that these parrots are actually thriving alongside human communities in southern Texas. Considering that this species is endangered in its native range in northeastern Mexico, their remarkable ability to live alongside humans makes them unique.

Toxic algae blooms known as red tide have been detected in multiple sections of the Texas Gulf Coast including the upper coast around Galveston Bay and the lower Laguna Madre in the Rio Grande Valley, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said. It’s the first time Texas has seen a red tide since 2018, when it affected the upper and middle parts of the state’s coast. Red tide typically starts in late summer or early fall. Parks and Wildlife officials first noticed it in Freeport, south of Houston, on Sept. 3.

Because the jet stream is essentially a river of air that storms flow through, they can move across the South with increased frequency during an El Niño winter. More storms means more precipitation, typically from the southern Plains to the Southeast. This could be crucial for states like Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi plagued by drought.

According to the City of Natalia, a main line break and reduced system pressure occurred Friday night. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires the city to notify all customers of the Natalia Public Water System to boil their water before consumption.

Due to a drop in Disinfectant Levels, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has required the City of Meadow (PWS 2230002) public water system to notify all customers to boil their water prior to consumption. When it is no longer necessary to boil the water, the public water system officials will notify customers that the water is safe for drinking water or human consumption purposes.

Mother Nature has brought some much-needed rainfall to the area recently. However, drought conditions continue to expand across much of North Texas.

The alligator gar, a fish that can live more than 50 years and weighs upwards of 300 pounds, is protected from overfishing in Texas.