exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

In a Thursday public hearing of the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Orr introduced a substitute bill removing the eminent domain language. The substitute bill would instead require the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to approve any application for new or amended water rights related to Fairfield Lake, as well as adjoining Big Brown Creek.

Property owners downstream of two Guadalupe Valley Lakes system lakes potentially could see vast amounts of water rushing their way as two area lakes are drained beginning Monday. In preparation for the drawdown of Lake McQueeney and Meadow Lake, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority is shutting down all activity along the lakes system.

Houston announced that it is terminating its contract with the company Inframark amid a criminal investigation into operations at Kingwood Central Wastewater Treatment Facility. The city’s news release added that it has determined that it can best serve Kingwood residents by having Houston Public Works operate its water treatment facilities in Kingwood.

Since Harvey, the city of Houston, Harris County, and state and federal officials have worked to address the shortcomings of the Lake Houston spillway dam that have been attributed, in part, to flooding around the lake during the hurricane. These efforts include a roughly $200 million design for improvements to the dam released in December that officials believe will provide a cost-effective solution to the limitations of the current structure.

TCEQ had found many problems at the town's water treatment plant, but local leaders assure residents the water is safe to drink. Some, however, are pushing back on that narrative.

Matagorda County stands to lose thousands of acres of rice and the millions of dollars that go with it over a shortage of water, officials said. The Lower Colorado River Authority said no Highland Lakes water will be available to agricultural customers this year in Matagorda, Wharton and Colorado counties as severe drought conditions show no signs of relief in the near future. The Hill Country’s lake reservoirs from Lake Buchanan and Travis have been impacted by the drought affecting inflows and levels in the water supply.

The Port Aransas Conservancy, which for years has pushed to change the Port of Corpus Christi's marine desalination plans on Port Aransas' Harbor Island, filed a petition this week seeking a judicial review of the state's process in issuing a wastewater discharge permit to the port. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's decision last fall to issue the permit — one of two needed to operate the proposed $802 million water treatment facility — was "replete with error" and should be reversed, according to the 230-page petition filed in a Travis County district court.

The City of College Station is one step closer to adding more life to the community. The city’s five-year plan called ‘Cooling College Station’ which focuses on mitigating the effects of urban heat islands was awarded a $43,302 equity and accessibility grant to plant and care for 117 trees in environmentally disadvantaged communities.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is allocating an additional $20 million to the flood control portion of Fort Worth’s Panther Island. The money is in addition to the $403 million approved in 2022 to build a 1.5-mile bypass channel on the Trinity River north of downtown that would create a 338-acre island and San Antonio style river walk.

Water is a critical resource in North Texas – from sustaining the farming industry to quenching the thirst of nearly a million people in Fort Worth. If Texas continues to see record heat in the summer months, farmers worry drought levels will worsen, depleting water wells across the state. 

People in Bastrop County are concerned about Elon Musk’s Boring Company’s request to dump thousands of gallons of treated wastewater into the Colorado River. Tuesday night, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality held a meeting with neighbors about the future of their drinking water supply.

Pearland's new surface water treatment plant that will provide independence from the city of Houston for sourcing clean drinking water is expected to reach “substantial completion” in August.

Sustainable Durant wants citizens to understand where the city's water comes from today and where it will come from in the future.

Legislation that could transform Texas’ crumbling water infrastructure and create new sources of water for the state’s growing population took a crucial first step forward Monday. Voters would have the final say on whether the state sets aside billions of dollars to acquire new water sources and invest in aging infrastructure.

Marble Falls will move to Stage 2 mandatory water restrictions on April 3. The city had dropped to Stage 1 restrictions in January.

On Friday, the Lower Colorado River Authority announced it was building a peaker power plant in Caldwell County set to be operational by 2025. According to a release from the LCRA, the plant will run on natural gas and would only be used when the need for energy surpasses what renewables could provide.

Texas has taken a wasteful, big-government approach to the water in Fairfield Lake. Taxpayers are about to pay the price.

A small army of volunteers in kayaks have made it their mission to seek out and remove a pesky non-native snail and its bubblegum-pink egg clusters along the San Antonio River. Four years and thousands of removals later, the San Antonio River Authority has launched a new dashboard to keep track of the fight against the invasive apple snail waged by the volunteers and its own personnel.