exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

The city of Murphy is willing to discuss options for preventing construction of a wastewater treatment plant that would dump treated sewage into Maxwell Creek, according to the city’s lawyer in the case.

This summer's extreme heat, which has intensified drought conditions and dried up water holes across Central Texas, has claimed another victim: Wimberley's Blue Hole. On Tuesday, officials with Blue Hole Regional Park announced it would be closed for the next two weeks due to low water levels that pose a possible safety concern to visitors

Heavy rain and strong winds will continue to slam portions of southern Texas and Mexico as Harold tracks westward Tuesday afternoon and evening. Those winds had knocked out power to around 40,000 customers in Texas, according to poweroutage.us.

City of Crawford officials say a well now being installed will more than double the town's available drinking water supply by Jan. 31 to meet current and future needs, but a ban on outdoor water use will remain until then. The well and associated construction at the city water plant is expected to cost $3.1 million. 

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department commissioners are meeting Wednesday and Thursday. Included on the board’s agenda is an action for them to vote on whether to authorize department staff to “pursue acquisition of approximately 500 acres, which includes Lake Colorado City State Park, from a willing seller.”

The city of Heath purchases its allotted water from the city of Rockwall. After high usage, Heath officials are warning residents about potential capacity issues.

The Concho River water project, once complete, would turn treated wastewater that has been pumped into the Concho River into drinkable water for the community. This proposed project has been identified as a leading option for San Angelo’s next water supply source and there have already been steps taken towards the plan.

The number of water main breaks has significantly increased due to the drought. The Water and Wastewater Utility Department reported 75 minor water main breaks and 20 to 22 major water main breaks this week alone.

Neighbors said it's been years of frustration, and it's "extremely difficult," as some said they're unable to shower, brush their teeth, or flush their toilets.

According to an Aug. 21 press release, 2,400 linear feet of cast iron water line pipes—a length that spans more than six football fields—will be updated to PVC pipes and will allow for improved water delivery and a lower chance of leaks and pipe breakage. The pipes were first built prior to 1939, according to city information.

In August or September, it is not uncommon for tropical storms to bring heat relief and rain after a hot, dry stretch of summer weather. Tropical Storm Harold, however, will not bring the much-anticipated relief to North Texas. The heat dome, a broad area of high pressure, will strengthen bringing even hotter weather to North Texas and keeping the impacts of Harold to our south.

With more triple-digit temperatures in the forecast for the Brazos Valley, the Texas A&M Forest Service has stationed air tankers in College Station.

When Tom Howe visited Padre Island last week, he didn’t expect to see a badger in broad daylight, much less on the beach hunting for crabs.

The city of Fulshear is still under a boil water notice, but the water pressure issue at one of the water wells has been fixed, according to city officials. Water pressure at one of the city wells dropped and affected the downtown water system on Monday.

Effective Aug. 21, Stage 3 applies to all city water customers, including residential, commercial, industrial and institutional, during a severe drought and are required and enforceable. 

There should have been 16,000 bats flying that night in mid-July. Instead, only about 500 remained at the cave in Central Texas next to the Colorado River. The rest succumbed to white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has ravaged bat populations across the country.

Dallas Water Utilities crews work to repair a pipe break in the 2700 block of North Stemmons Freeway Monday evening.

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) approves financial assistance totaling $1,593,374,996 for water, wastewater, and flood projects through the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT), the Flood Infrastructure Fund, and state revolving funds.

The City of Bryan says an estimated 300,000 gallons of wastewater was released unintentionally Saturday. In a press release sent to KBTX on Friday, the city says an equipment failure at the Burton Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant’s pump station resulted in the plant being offline for about 12 hours.

After a large fire at a Garland paint factory, the Environmental Protection Agency is continuing to monitor 53 miles of North Texas waterways for contaminated runoff. The detection of water contamination has decreased throughout the week, however, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the EPA said in an update provided by Kaufman County officials Friday. Authorities are testing water samples at 10 locations on Duck Creek and the East Fork of the Trinity River in Dallas and Kaufman counties.

A string of cloudless 100-degree days is depleting two reservoirs in the West Fork of the Trinity River, though officials say the region’s overall water supply is in stable condition. The Tarrant Regional Water District’s reservoir system sits at 85% full, according to the agency’s Aug. 17 daily water report. That’s an improvement over last August, when officials warned of levels falling beneath 75% full and triggering restrictions on watering in several cities.