exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

A slew of bills have sped through the Senate, but even if all pass much remains to be done to make Houston safe.

The City of Amarillo is hosting a poster contest for children for their Every Drop Counts water conservation campaign.

It is estimated that washing hands with soap and water could reduce diarrheal disease-associated deaths by up to 50%. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) It’s also estimated that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented. (CDC) A large percentage of foodborne disease outbreaks are spread by contaminated hands. Appropriate hand washing practices can reduce the risk of foodborne illness and other infections (CDC) and can reduce the risk of respiratory infections by 16%. (CDC) Within the first 15 minutes of bathing, the average person sheds 6 x 106 colony forming units (CFU) of Staphylococcus aureus. (CDC)

During its regular March 19 meeting, the City Council also voted 5-0 to contract for engineering services for the development of a master plan study for the wastewater treatment plant.

Homeowners near the Blanco River say there's an algae problem that's damaging the quality of the river, and it's gotten a lot worse in just a few weeks.

Last October, a Craft Turney Water Supply customer showed up at the office on the loop in Jacksonville carrying a bottle of foaming, opaque water drawn from the tap at her residence. The customer said the water burned or irritated her skin, according to the account documented in the newly released report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Port Neches city officials are working to build on the Neches River to control the natural erosion on the bank of the river and provide businesses an area to set up shop. City Manager Andre Wimer says the success of the Neches Wheelhouse has brought added attention to land the city purchased. The city is currently working on two projects, protecting the shoreline and infrastructure improvements.

Crews in Garland are monitoring Spring Creek, after an excavation-related sewer overflow.

Chemicals have now washed into the Houston Ship Channel that links the Gulf of Mexico to Houston, an ITC spokesperson told Reuters. That same report says that ships continue to move through the 50 mile-long channel.

U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw shocked many residents when he said the City of Houston has not yet submitted a permit application to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers for the dredging of the notorious Kingwood mouth bar near the San Jacinto River.

Spearheaded by the United Nations, World Water Day is an annual day of awareness to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Resources are available to honor this day on World Water Day’s website.  

The latest Drought Monitor shows improvement for some across Texas, while others entered into the Severe Drought category.

Some 19 months after Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Gulf Coast, Liberty County Commissioners are still dealing with the aftermath and seeking federal funding to repair roads and buy out land that will soon be designated Disaster Risk Reduction areas

Environment Texas and TexPIRG gave Texas an 'F' grade for addressing the issue of lead contamination in schools' drinking water. The national report shows Texas was one of 22 states that received an 'F' rating.

The Texas Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a bipartisan package of bills that would pull $1.8 billion from the state's rainy day fund to aid in Hurricane Harvey recovery and plan for and protect against future storms. The legislation was named a top priority by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

The city of Paint Rock, TX recently received a $300,000 grant from the Texas Water Development Board. The city of just under two hundred forty people is currently without a water plant. They currently have to buy their water from Millersview-Doole Water Supply.

As a part of a five-phase project to address wastewater overflows in the city, Lions Park in Temple has been closed since Thursday.

State judges have dismissed about 30 people out of a groundwater pumping case, after finding that they failed to demonstrate concrete ways in which they or their land would be affected by a large pumping permit being requested in Bastrop County by the Lower Colorado River Authority.