exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

ABILENE, Texas — After numerous days of triple-digit temperatures and absolutely no rainfall, the drought conditions in the Big Country have a chance to get worse, especially if these drought conditions last throughout the rest of the summer.

“We are currently on the year-round water use management and we're in a three-time-a-week watering schedule, which is the best situation for our customers right now,” said Rodney Taylor, the director of water utilities for the City of Abilene.

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – During a record-breaking heat wave, Fort Worth is seeing a near-record demand for water. Water use is ahead of the pace set in the drought season of 2011, however, water resource engineers do not believe the demand will lead to new water restrictions.

Fort Worth, which provides drinking water to 30 surrounding communities, had its highest water use day for 2018 Thursday, at 352.8 million gallons. That was more than 10 million gallons more than Wednesday, the previous high demand day.

(ARLINGTON, TEXAS) – The Trinity River Authority has confirmed a sanitary sewer overflow in its collection system involving a manhole near 714 East Pleasant Run Road in the city of DeSoto. The overflow of wastewater, which occurred on July 21, spilled into Ten Mile Creek near Clear Springs Drive. The cause of the overflow, which is undetermined, is being investigated. TRA is working with its contractors to clean up the affected area. 

New data shows that requests to fund water and wastewater infrastructure projects through the EPA-administered State Revolving Fund (SRF) have increased 25 percent since last year. For the 2017-2018 fiscal year, $26.9 billion has been…

In the midst of hurricane season, county and area water officials are working to push forward mitigation projects in hopes of preventing future flooding.

The San Jacinto River Authority held the second of three public meetings July 11 to discuss Phases I and II of the SJRA Flood Protection Project, which aims to study the floodplains in and around the Lake Conroe watershed and the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.

David Parkhill, director of Raw Water Enterprise for the SJRA, presented an update on the study during the public meeting and said since Hurricane Harvey, the authority has been working with area engineers, municipal utility districts and the county to develop and analyze water and flood models, investigate environmental constraints and assess flood damage in the area.

Austin is ideally situated on both sides of the Colorado River, and surrounded by many man-made lakes. These lakes, formed by area dams, have created seven Central Texas reservoirs: Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Lake LBJ, Inks Lake, Lake Buchanan, and Lake Marble Falls.

Before it was renamed for the city, Lake Austin was named Lake McDonald after John McDonald, a former Austin mayor. (He held the position from 1890-1895.) Lake McDonald was filled with riverboats and locals, who flocked to the water seeking relief from the heat.

Residents in the Waxahachie development of Emerald Forest were left without water for over 24 hours after a broken pump knocked out service Sunday.

Water service, provided by The Carroll Water Company resumed for some residents Monday evening.

"I've been on the phone since 8:05 this morning calling every governmental agency I can get our hands on," Julie Davis, one of the residents who lost water service, said.

(ARLINGTON, TEXAS) – The Trinity River Authority has reported a second sanitary sewer overflow in its collection system involving a manhole near 714 East Pleasant Run Road in the city of DeSoto. The overflow has been contained. A plug, which was put in place to contain the flow, failed. The plug has been replaced. The overflows spilled into Ten Mile Creek near Clear Springs Drive.

The Harris County Flood Control District held a public meeting on Thursday at the May Community Center in Huffman to present proposed flood mitigation projects. There projects could possibly be funded by the $2.5 billion bond.

San Pedro Creek Culture Park has reopened, which means visitors can again wade in the water there. Design changes, though, will ensure folks don’t swim.

We still don’t think it’s a great idea to wade in the water. While the setting is pristine and inviting, this is still untreated storm water, people.

At times, E. coli levels have been above state standards for swimming and wading, and, of course, there are pollutants from runoff, too. There are plenty of other places to wade, splash and swim.

Officials in DeSoto say a mechanical problem with equipment owned by the Trinity River Authority has caused the discharge of raw sewage into a creek.

The Dallas Morning News reports DeSoto officials say the river authority and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are working to address the issue but it's not immediately clear how much sewage has flowed into Tenmile Creek.

Austin Water says late last year, it completed a pressure stabilization project from Spicewood Springs Road and Mesa to just past Far West Boulevard. The goal was to bring homes in line with the state's standard minimum water pressure, with Austin Water saying homes with higher pressure, saw a minimal difference. 

Haslet, Texas, selected Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) to design a new sewer interceptor. The approximately 1-mile sewer line will serve LeTara, a growing 400-acre master planned community, including three new schools, under development. In addition, it will serve the remainder of 2,800-acres of potential development in the cities of Haslet and Fort Worth.

The City of Harker Heights issued a stage one drought response effective on Wednesday.

According to the city, stage one of the water conservation means to voluntarily reduce daily water demands by raising public and customer awareness of water demand conditions.The Brazos River Authority triggered their stage one drought watch condition for Lake Belton. It is based on the Palmer Hydrologic Drought Index (PHDI).

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Water put out a tweet Monday about the low lake levels and the importance of cutting back on water use, along with the hashtag "make it last."

After KXAN reported Lake Travis — Austin's source for water — is less than 70 percent full and Lake Buchanan isn't far behind, viewers have been asking why the Lower Colorado River Authority is still sending water downstream to the rice farmers.

"I was just curious how much they were going to release, and why they were still releasing when we are in the position that we're in," said John Klingler.

SAN LEON, Texas –  It’s been nearly a year since Hurricane Harvey battered the oyster population off the coast of Galveston County. Excessive rainfall and freshwater runoff depleted salinity levels in the bay, nearly wiping out the oysters in the bay, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. That had repercussions still being felt in the oyster industry.

“Oysters need brackish water, a good mixture of freshwater and saltwater to thrive. In our case, the freshwater that came through, it killed half of the population or more,” Raz Halili, vice president of Prestige Oysters, an oyster distributor.