exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

Odessa city officials are still investigating what caused a massive water line break that left the city without water for 48 hours last month. But they’ve shared one important detail: The water line was about 60 years old.

After months of drought and high heat in the San Antonio area, flow rates in some rivers this year have decreased to almost zero, threatening local ecosystems and limiting summer recreation. The next two weeks in the region will continue to bring intense heat — some days forecast to reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit with an even higher heat index due to humidity.

Houston Public Works moved the city into Stage 1 of its drought contingency plan, citing drop in rainfall amounts and higher-than-normal temperatures.

For weeks, Central Texas lake ranges have dropped due to elevated temperatures and low rainfall. As water ranges at Lake Travis get decrease, zebra mussels will die out close to the shore however have entry to new areas of the lake.

The city of Round Rock enacted a limit on lawn watering June 29 to conserve its existing water supply. An announcement from the city states residents may water their lawns a maximum of two days a week from 7 p.m.-midnight and midnight-noon, designated by the last number in a resident's address.

 An equipment failure at a City Wastewater Lift Station, located in the 2200 block of River Road, caused untreated wastewater to discharge into the Blanco River in the late evening hours of Monday, June 27, 2022. The City’s water supply was not affected by the spill.

The city of Athens reported a spill at its West Wastewater Treatment plant Friday. The spill was caused by a failed pump control switch and partially treated wastewater entered Walnut Creek that flows west reaching the Trinity River.

Hiking through the emerald green canopy of the bosque, or riverside cottonwood forest, near downtown Albuquerque, Tricia Snyder, an advocate for WildEarth Guardians, believes zero hour has arrived for the Rio Grande. Though the river this day is high and a rich chocolatey-red color, water levels are historically low and dropping precipitously.

Texas lawmakers heard from dozens of Texans on Wednesday who pleaded with them to fix the state’s environmental agency, which they said is failing to reduce pollution in their neighborhoods. At a hearing on a report evaluating the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s effectiveness, Texans as young as 9 and as old as 80 testified that the agency had not adequately responded to their environmental or health concerns.

More than $3.3 billion is being invested into downtown San Antonio over the next five years. The money will be spent on housing, hotels, street repairs and upgrades to cultural amenities such as the Alamo, the Tower of the Americas and the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Save Lake LBJ member Laura Patterson addressed a recent change to a dredge and fill zone ordinance that affects the lake at the Wednesday, June 15, meeting of the Lower Colorado River Authority Board of Directors. The board also heard concerns about the area’s water supply from the Central Texas Water Coalition, which asked it to consider updating the current water management plan before 2025, when the next review is planned.

The first proposals to build a desalination plant in coastal Brazoria County came from the private sector 20 years ago. It followed a promise from then-Gov. Rick Perry to provide up to $208 million in state bond money to build a demonstration plant along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.

As the drought continues in Wharton County, another blow was handed down to agricultural producers as the Lower Colorado River Authority closes the tap for interruptible water.

A white mineral ring as tall as the Statue of Liberty creeps up the steep shoreline of Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir just east of Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona border. It is the country’s largest reservoir, and it’s draining rapidly.

It’s a development that underscores just how serious drought conditions in Central Texas and much of the state are. The Lower Colorado River Authority has announced that Highland Lakes water will not be available to agricultural customers in the lower Colorado River basin this year.

A new contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority will allow Pflugerville to keep up with the growing water demand in the coming years. Pflugerville City Council approved the contract, which increases the city's maximum water supply allowance from 12,000 acre-feet per year to 24,000, at a June 28 meeting.

The city of West University Place entered Stage 2 of its Drought Contingency Plan June 23, calling on citizens to voluntarily limit water usage. As part of the city plan, recommendations for Stage 2 include limiting outdoor irrigation; not watering between the hours of 10 p.m.-5 a.m.; refraining from filling outdoor pools and tubs; and checking for leaks in kitchens, bathrooms and outdoor appliances.

The city of Llano began installing wooden boards on the Llano River Dam on June 18 in accordance with the city’s drought contingency plan. Extreme drought conditions have dropped the flow rate of the Llano River to less than 1 cubic-foot per second. 

The board of directors of the San Antonio River Authority approved a $371.6 million budget last week for the authority’s upcoming fiscal year that will help fund Mission Reach erosion repairs, water quality modeling and floodplain remapping along several waterways in its purview. The San Antonio River Authority oversees the upper San Antonio River watershed within Bexar, Wilson, Karnes and Goliad counties.