exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

The Midland City Council held the second reading of their new water rates ordinance on Tuesday, which, if voted into effect, would cut the rate for water use over 50,000 gal by more than half of its current price. The current rate for any water used over the 50,000 gal mark, the highest tier of water use rate for the city, is set $54.02 per 1,000 gal.

“When should I water my yard?”  “How much water should I apply?”  These are common questions from homeowners as Summer arrives in the Panhandle-South Plains region. To eliminate some of the guesswork, High Plains Underground Water Conservation District (HPWD) is sponsoring the “Water My Yard” program, phone app, and website for use by Lubbock County residents.

Water payments provide funds to operate the water and sewer plant, repair water and sewer lines and provide debt payments for capital projects, among other uses.

A decades-long battle over how to best meet Dallas-Fort Worth’s growing water needs has entered a contentious phase, with urban water officials and rural landowners clashing over a reservoir project that would cost at least $4.4 billion and 65,000 acres of resource-rich land in Northeast Texas.

The City of Tyler Water Utilities recently experienced a wastewater collection discharge within Mud Creek that meets the public notification requirements of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The discharge was due to a power outage caused by a tree falling on power supply lines to the Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

On June 23, the Van Alstyne City Council turned its attention to the business of how residents, well, do their business.

The council approved a $61,000 expenditure to pay for emergency repairs on a sanitary sewer lift station at 1950 Caruth Drive.

The repairs are required to both keep sewer service up and running and to prevent discharging untreated sewage into the ground.

The Harris County Flood Control District is monitoring severe weather through the region. Overnight heavy and persistent rainfall occurred over far western Harris County into northern Fort Bend County where rain totals of 5-8 inches have fallen overnight from Jersey Village to Katy and resulted in significant street flooding and rises on area creeks and bayous.

Temple won’t cut off water service to residents who haven’t paid their bills during the coronavirus crisis. “The last thing we want to do is turn off the water and residents not be able to wash their hands,” Mayor Tim Davis said. “So right now, the order has been extended with no changes and we are going to watch it.

With everything going on these days, it’s easy to forget about some of the yearly issues we face in Central Texas, including a lack of rainfall. In Kyle, that has led to the implementation of Stage 1 water restrictions.