exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

City officials believe a leaky wastewater line caused Fondren Road to collapse near Woodway Drive Friday and the hole just kept growing. 

Changes are attributed to the North Texas Municipal Water District capital projects and the increased cost of chemicals used to treat water.

Extensive interviews with leaders in both cities say Fort Worth can learn many lessons from San Antonio’s River Walk: tying economic development to flood control; finding the right champions for the project, and securing the kind of neighborhood-level buy-in San Antonio officials credit with its success.

Round Rock's first tier of watering restrictions calling for biweekly residential outdoor watering days was enacted in late June 2022. More than a year later, these restrictions are still in place. In June 2022, the city of Round Rock enacted Stage 1 watering restrictions limiting outdoor watering to two days per week based on a resident's address. 

Todd Interests, based in Dallas, Texas, is moving forward with its development plans that closed Fairfield Lake State Park saying it's a property rights issue. Todd said he purchased the land for more than $100 million and has had the water rights appraised at more than $230 million. The next step in the eminent-domain process would involve the state sending an offer equal to or greater than an appraisal price.

The five-day streak of 100+ degree temperatures last month helped make it the 25th warmest June on record in DFW. As is typical for a Texas summer, there isn't much relief in sight.

There are many plants that Texans have to lookout for while stepping outside, chief among them is poison ivy. Poison ivy may be the poster child for dangerous plants in Texas, a state full of them from bull nettle to poison oak. Other adverse Texas plants include buttercup, azalea and pokeweed.

The Texas Water Development Board is a state entity whose mission is to make sure we have enough water for a very long time. The board says it'll require an $80 billion investment by 2070 to make sure that happens, and that number doesn't account for inflation.

Each year, Texas Parks and Wildlife receives multiple calls about aggressive birds, who perceive homeowners as a threat to their young during nesting season.  

The upcoming open house is an opportunity for community members to learn about the drainage program, ask questions and offer input regarding significant concerns and priorities.

State agriculture leaders said weeks of extreme heat on top of already tough drought conditions could yield less cotton for Texas farmers. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service said conditions started out favorably when cotton was planted back in the spring.

Japan will be releasing over 1 million tons of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the plan’s safety on Tuesday. Japan published its policy for slowly releasing the water back into the Pacific Ocean over the next 30-40 years in 2021. 

The City of Laredo Utilities Department continues to keep a close eye on water levels. Water levels sit in the 30 percentile and remain at Stage 1 of the DCP. Stage 2 starts at 25%, and it is likely to start sooner than later. 

In recent weeks the arrival of El Niño and a suffocating “heat dome” over the Lone Star State have contributed not only to record temperatures but to a far less common phenomenon: the Texas Panhandle has been humid, and South Texas has remained in severe drought. Here’s everything you need to know about how humidity makes a difference in dealing with day-to-day Texas summer temperatures, whether or not your area has more moisture to spare than usual.

Texas Parks and Wildlife said this week that Blue Buttons have been spotted at Galveston Island State Park. The creatures look like small bright blue jellyfish, but they are actually just a very distant relative.

Many Texans head to the Gulf Coast to cool down in the dog days of summer but a new report from environmental group, Environment Texas, states that pathogens pose a risk at the majority of Texas beaches. In 2022, the group tested 61 Texas beaches for fecal bacteria and found that 55 of those beaches had potentially unsafe levels of fecal indicator bacteria on at least one testing day, according to Environment Texas’ latest analysis of bacteria testing.

Roughly two acres of land is in the process of becoming city property after the Marble Falls City Council approved a resolution to enforce eminent domain to aid the construction and operation of a new wastewater treatment plant. The decision was made July 3 following the failure of traditional methods of acquisition. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) seeks public comment for a proposed Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for six aquatic species in the Trinity River basin. The 10-year agreement with the Trinity River Authority of Texas would address the conservation needs of four species of freshwater mussels (Texas heelsplitter, Trinity pigtoe, Texas fawnsfoot and Louisiana pigtoe), and two species of turtles (western chicken turtle and alligator snapping turtle).

The sewage spill was triggered by an electric transformer failure that serves the pumping station at the treatment facility’s emergency pond that holds excess wastewater during heavy rainfall. A volume of about 235,000 gallons of wastewater was discharged into the Concho River at the treatment plant for the city, which is about one mile north of the F.M. 380 bridge.

Oil and gas companies in West Texas released hundreds of tons of toxic gasses into the air last week as a record-breaking heatwave drove pressure inside pipelines and compressors to dangerously high levels. In order to avoid explosions, operators release gas into the air, including the potent greenhouse gas methane, which traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

The Biden administration's climate agenda is facing an unexpected challenge in drought-prone Corpus Christi, Texas, where a proposed clean hydrogen hub would require the installation of energy-intensive, expensive and potentially environmentally damaging seawater desalination plants.