exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

Because Texas enjoys a vibrant economy and continued population growth, ensuring we have enough water for current and future Texans remains a top priority in the state.

Fortunately, all Texans can play a role in conserving water.

Outdoor water can constitute a large portion of overall residential water use so wise landscape watering is an important place to start. If we cultivate good watering habits just as we cultivate our gardens, we can use water to sustain our plants and promote healthy growth while conserving supplies for future use.

At 6 p.m., when the open house meeting was scheduled to begin, already the Kingwood Park High School auditorium was packed with several hundred residents of the San Jacinto River Watershed eager to learn and provide input on bond projects that could help reduce flooding for Kingwood and other watershed communities.

After three days without water, service was restored late Thursday to approximately 300 homes near the community of Horseshoe Bend in Parker County, about 12 miles south of Weatherford.

But hours later, more than a dozen neighbors gathered to express their concern that the source of the problem has not yet been corrected.

“Rivers are the lungs of our ecosystem. In the spring they take a big breath, fill with water, and slowly exhale throughout the year. That is, if they are functioning right.” Mike Fiebig, Conservation Director for the Northern Rockies with American Rivers, passionately paints a picture of the diverse roles rivers play in our ecosystem, economy, societies, and personal and public health (just to name a few).

SAN ANTONIO — The water has been temporarily turned off at the Plaza de Fundacion at San Pedro Creek.

Recent storms caused the bacteria levels in the creek to rise. The San Antonio River Authority is now conducting water quality tests.

SARA officials say stormwater runoff entering the waterways carries contaminants like pet waste and oil.

Easing the way for the construction of an expanded sewage plant that could release treated wastewater into a creek that feeds Barton Springs, the city of Drippings Springs this week agreed to a settlement with downriver property owners, an environmental group and groundwater districts.

But one holdout remains: the Save Our Springs Alliance, a group that has long opposed development in areas around Austin’s western fringe.

A year ago, water flowing up from the underground Edwards Aquifer still partially filled the spring-fed pools at San Pedro Springs Park north of downtown.

Now, the springs are completely dry, a sign of arid times returning to San Antonio. On Tuesday, water in the aquifer dropped to its lowest level since January 2015.

“We’re definitely seeing drought conditions expanding across Central Texas,” said Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, a Texas A&M University professor of atmospheric sciences.

DALLAS - White Rock Lake in Dallas reopened for recreational use on Monday after last week's large sewage spill upstream.

The parks and rec department allowed lake partners to resume normal operations after being closed for days. The popular White Rock Lake Dog Launch will open back up Tuesday.

The sewage spill happened last week after a contractor broke a sewer line in Plano, spilling an estimated 1 million gallons of raw sewage into the creek that feeds the lake.

Arlington Water Utilities customers used an average of 75 million gallons a day in  June, nearly 30 percent more water on average than in June 2017. It’s a  trend that’s not surprising given the recent hot, dry weather.

The good news is Lake Arlington and the East Texas reservoirs that supply Arlington water are full enough to meet demand this summer. No day-of-the-week watering restrictions are expected for Arlington. Though, residents who are aware of their home water use can avoid unpleasant surprises on their utility bills.​

When Ron Criswell first put his boat in the waters of Lake Travis 11 years ago, zebra mussels were the last thing on his mind. In mid-June, the longtime member at the Hudson Bend marina was talking regularly about the “destructive nuisance” with many of his marina slip neighbors.

“This year they’re gaining enough of a foothold to be problematic,” Criswell said, indicating a big concern is the tiny mussel offspring making their way into raw water intakes and larger watercrafts. At area marinas this summer, it is easy to spot the tiny mussels clinging to dock slips just below the waterline. The sharp-shelled critters are also visible along stretches of lake shoreline.

When the brown waters of the San Jacinto River finally receded after Hurricane Harvey, they left behind a sandbar so enormous that fishermen standing on one side of the west fork couldn't see the opposite bank.
All sandbars can contribute to flooding by reducing a river's velocity and carrying capacity, but it appears that this particular sandbar served as a key villain in the story of Harvey's flood. The heaping pile was responsible for blocking a key drainage ditch for Kingwood High School and a number of nearby homes.

Dallas officials reopened water activities at White Rock Lake this week after crews worked all weekend to stave off a million gallons of sewage flowing toward it from Plano. A construction crew there accidentally dug into a sewage pipe, sending the waste to Dallas along White Rock Creek.

The lake already has a reputation for being nasty. D Magazine's Tim Rogers helped confirm it when he swam across the lake and wrote about it in 2003. Rogers swam with hopes of avoiding “broken beer bottles and used syringes.”

Nearly $5 billion in funding for high-priority disaster recovery projects in Texas was announced Thursday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, many designed to spur continued recovery from Hurricane Harvey. In addition, the Corps also announced nearly $16 million for studies for projects to help make Texas more resilient to future storms.

In 2017, SJWTX, Inc. entered into an agreement to purchase the water system assets. SJWTX, Inc., operates as Canyon Lake Water Service Company in New Braunfels about 40 miles south of Deer Creek Ranch’s service area.

Deer Creek Ranch includes approximately 750 service connections over an area of 1,191 acres in the Texas Hill Country on the rapidly growing western fringe of the Austin metropolitan area.