The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) announced Feb. 2, 2018, that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has granted a 404 permit to allow construction to begin on the long-awaited Lower Bois d’Arc Reservoir (LBCR) near Bonham, Texas, in Fannin County. The NTMWD said it has been working for more than 15 years with federal, state and local officials on planning for the new lake that will provide water for the growing communities it serves. The NTMWD said the 16,641-acre (6,731-ha) lake will be the first reservoir built in Texas in 30 years. Construction is planned to begin this spring with completion in 2022.
exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas
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Welcome to exTRA – an aggregation of both TRA-related and industry-specific news clips. TRA’s communications division provides these clips as an educational service to TRA’s valued staff, directors and consultants. The articles selected are determined to be of interest to our readership, but in no way reflect TRA’s official position(s) or view(s).
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After finding zebra mussels in Lake Travis last June, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced Thursday it has now discovered the invasive species in parts of Lake Austin and has found larvae in Lady Bird Lake as well. According to a news release from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Lake Austin, or the section of the Colorado River that is directly upstream from the Tom Miller Dam, was reclassified as infested, confirming an established, reproducing population. Several adult mussels and larvae were identified at multiple locations, including at Capital of Texas Highway’s Pennybacker Bridge and the Tom Miller Dam, located on Lake Austin Boulevard near Redbud Trail. The Lower Colorado River Authority also found larvae in a sample from Lady Bird Lake, resulting in the lake being classified as “suspect” for infestation. Lady Bird Lake represents the portion of the Colorado River that travels through downtown Austin. 
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AUSTIN — Voting on a state construction loan, expected Thursday, should begin flowing money into what will be Texas’ first new major reservoir in decades. After 15 years of permitting and planning, construction is slated to begin this spring on the Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir. But being able to turn on the taps for the project along the Oklahoma border in Fannin County won’t come without costs that go beyond the state’s $1.1 billion in construction loans. “I’ve got some cousins that are losing land that’s been in the family since 1865,” to reservoir construction, said Harold Witcher, who expects the lake to cover his home and over 400 acres. “It’s a crooked deal.”
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Texas summer days are filled with the gasps and laughter of children as they cannonball into cold, refreshing spring-fed swimming holes like Jacob's Well, San Solomon Springs or Barton Springs. The future of these Texas icons is in jeopardy as population growth and climate change stretch thin our precious water resources and complicate water management during our infamous weather extremes. The current water management paradigm in Texas does not adequately promote sustainable water management or, quite frankly, place a priority on sustaining the needs of our environment.
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CHILDRESS - The City of Childress says it has a wastewater facility that is out of compliance according to TCEQ standards. City Manager Kevin Hughes said the reason is aging equipment that is costly and time-consuming to replace. Hughes said this plant provides service for the TDCJ unit, the TxDOT offices, and one residence. He told us the city's other wastewater plant which services the rest of the City of Childress is in TCEQ compliance.
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THE CONVERSATION When Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast in August 2017, many industrial facilities had to shut down their operations before the storm arrived and restart once rainfall and flooding had subsided. These shutdowns and startups, as well as accidents caused by the hurricane, led to a significant release of air pollutants. Over a period of about two weeks, data we compiled from the Texas’ Air Emission Event Report Database indicates these sites released 2,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and other pollutants.
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The Texarkana, Texas, City Council on Monday agreed to delegate some authority in the effort to build new water supply infrastructure at Wright Patman Lake. The council approved a joint resolution authorizing Riverbend Water Resources District Director and CEO Liz Fazio-Hale to apply for government permits needed for construction of new water intake structures at the lake. Specifically, the resolution authorizes Fazio-Hale to apply for federal permits under the Clean Water Act and for permission from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to place the structure anywhere on the lake's shoreline.
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The water supply is running dry in Cape Town, South Africa. The city’s reservoirs are shrinking as a three-year drought wears on. If it doesn’t rain soon, the drought could bring South Africa’s second most populous city to its knees. Cape Town residents are adapting as best they can. They are skipping showers and finding new ways to conserve and reuse their meager allowance of 50 liters (13 gallons) per person per day. That allowance may soon be cut in half, too.
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With a flood of new water coming into the San Antonio Water System in 2020, officials are taking the following question public: To sell or not to sell? SAWS officials brought up the question this week at the utility’s February board meeting, where SAWS Vice President of Water Resources and Governmental Relations Donovan Burton gave an update on Vista Ridge, a pipeline that will begin supplying up to 16.3 billion gallons of water per year to San Antonio.
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'Acceptance of this plan is a result of collaboration between the North Texas Municipal Water District, Texas A&M AgriLife, and watershed stakeholders,' said Galen Roberts, Watershed Manager at the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). 'We received valuable input in the development of the plan from local residents, agricultural producers, business and industry representatives, city and county personnel, as well as other interested parties.'
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Is Fort Worth ready to shell out $250 million to rechannel the Trinity River for an 800-acre island?
Fort Worth-area voters in May could be asked to approve nearly $250 million in bonds to help build Panther Island, the ambitious river walk project planned north of downtown. The Tarrant Regional Water District board of directors next week will decide whether to call for the bond election in May.
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Houston, known as the Bayou City, is no stranger to flooding. But the record-breaking rains and devastating deluge of Hurricane Harvey helped expose a disconnect between developers building on flood-vulnerable land and home buyers who might not have realized the risk. Hari Sreenivasan reports on how the region is confronting the likelihood of more floods, and long-term measures for mitigation.
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Right now, Groves is working to pick up after Harvey and heavy rainfall.Leaves, litter and debris still line dozens of streets.With debris and leaves, comes packed drainage ditches. An issue the city is working to resolve.Right now, the city doesn't force
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The invasive species of zebra mussels has now been found in Lake Austin. Downstream, in Lady Bird Lake, zebra mussel larvae have been found. Both along with Lake Travis are on a watch-list by Texas Parks and Wildlife, which has been mapping out areas where zebra mussels have been detected. "We really don’t know how the Zebra Mussel infestation is going to play out in Lake Austin.” said Monica McGarrity.
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AUSTIN - The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Fen. 15 approved financial assistance in the amount of $5,456,300, consisting of a $4,650,000 loan and $806,300 in loan forgiveness, from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to Arlington. The city will use the assistance to finance construction costs associated with a wastewater system improvement project, TWDB said in a news release. Arlington could save approximately $800,000 over the life of the loan, in addition to the loan forgiveness.
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The homes in Meyerland, Westbury, Spring Branch and other neighborhoods will be raised with, on average, $309,100 drawn from FEMA's Flood Mitigation Assistance Program, with the homeowners each chipping in an average of $13,370 per property.
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After years of seemingly going nowhere, Panther Island is starting to take off. Construction on its three signature bridges is underway. It’s first major private development will break ground later this year. Work on the first canal will soon begin. It is an admittedly cool, transformational project designed to create new waterfront property and an attraction similar to San Antonio’s Riverwalk.
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A storm as devastating as Hurricane Harvey inevitably is followed by efforts to mitigate the effects of future storms. Hazard mitigation is any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate the risks and impacts of natural hazards, such as floods, tornadoes and severe winter storms.24 Recovery efforts are more expensive than mitigation efforts, but many believe the nation hasn’t adequately funded the latter. According to Larry Larson, a senior policy adviser at the Association of State Flood Plain Managers, the U.S. has spent about $300 billion responding to various natural disasters, but only $600 million on mitigation. Yet mitigation spending has a four-to-one payback ratio.25
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BEAUMONT — Developing now--KFDM/Fox 4 has learned the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is investigating a complaint filed two weeks ago claiming problems flushing toilets and overflowing manholes in an area of west Beaumont. It's just one of many sewage issues plaguing the city, problems that upset people like Diane Nevills.
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Two Kingwood residents and one Montgomery resident have been appointed to the San Jacinto River Authority board of directors by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
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Intense, sustained, rainfall over the weekend resulted in the spill of domestic wastewater at several locations and the areas potentially affected by the spill include 200 Travis Street, near the University of Houston Downtown, and 700 Washington Avenue at 100 Milam Street, the City of Houston’s Public Works Department informed on Sunday.
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AUSTIN - Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) inland fisheries staff found a total of 30 acres of invasive giant salvinia in multiple locations at Lake Nacogdoches Feb. 5. Within days of the discovery of a half-acre of giant salvinia at the Yellow Bank Creek cove, the TPWD Brookeland aquatic habitat enhancement team (AHE) deployed to the reservoir and found a larger infestation where Little Bayou Loco enters the reservoir.
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Not much bothers Bill Cyrus. As a technical service manager at the Trinity River Authority’s wastewater treatment plant, he has seen and smelled it all. For 39 years, has worked cleaning and purifying wastewater before releasing it into the Trinity River. However, there is one thing that has bothered him lately — the explosion of the so-called rags into his sewer pipes. Rags like those pictured below.
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From
kfdm
Sewage is seeping out into a drainage ditch in Port Arthur and onto surrounding areas. Citizens living nearby contacted KFDM/Fox 4 and what we found was a pretty disgusting sight with an extremely foul odor just off 46th Street in Port Arthur, not far from
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Trinity River Vision is one of the biggest and most expensive projects in Fort Worth and now taxpayers may be asked to approve $250 million more to build it. It's a long-term master plan centered on Panther Island, near downtown. It re-routes the Trinity River, to help with flood control and create a new urban waterfront community, roughly the same size as downtown.
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