exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

Imagine being able to supply local industries with all the water they need, and still meet Coastal Bend residents water needs. Desalination, a decades-old dream could soon become a reality. Desalination is the process of removing salt from seawater. Both the Port and the City of Corpus Christi are testing the waters again, taking a new and committed look at the idea. Industries in the Coastal Bend use more than 7 billion gallons of water each year.

Billy Bob Brown has been farming in the Amarillo area for nearly half a century, and this is the longest dry spell he's ever seen. The region hasn't received measurable rainfall in more than 100 days, according to the National Weather Service, and Brown is worried about the fate of his crops. He already can't grow corn because it's been so dry. “I remember when I was growing up in the 50s and there was three years of drought," said Brown, who is 78. “This is the worst I’ve seen since then.”

Commercial and tax-exempt entities plugged into the city of Magnolia’s water or sewer systems can expect to see higher bills in March. The city last increased its water and sewer rates in 2005. Magnolia City Council members voted Jan. 9 to implement new user categories, rate structures and maintenance fees recommended by engineering firm Jones & Carter. The firm conducted a water and sewer rate analysis in fiscal year 2016-17, finding that the city’s existing rates do not sufficiently fund water treatment, production and distribution. “Council has been very hesitant to raise water rates for a number of years. Every year the price of producing water gets higher all the time,” City Administrator Paul Mendes said during the meeting.

…many Texans pay more for their cell phone plan than they do for the life sustaining water that is readily available at their faucet …” Johnnie E. Smith, Conservation Education Manager TPWD Sad, but true. We tend to take water for granted, but we could not survive for more than 3 days without it. When Texas was suffering from severe drought, our eyes were drastically opened to life with less water. Hopefully, we have learned to conserve and monitor what we have.

PFLUGERVILLE, TX — City crews on Thursday scrambled to contain a wastewater line leak after it was accidentally ruptured by a utility company contractor, taking measures to protect the Lake Pflugerville drinking water source from contamination. The line was struck adjacent to Weiss Lane by an Oncor utility company subcontractor at around 11 a.m. on Thursday, causing the release of wastewater into a Wilbarger Creek tributary originating at the Pflugerville dam spillway adjacent to Weiss Lane, officials said in a press advisory.

n response to three historic flooding events that have damaged homes and businesses in the last two years, officials in Montgomery County and The Woodlands are seeking funding for flood mitigation studies and projects. Local, county, state and federal officials are now working together in search of projects and funding to better prepare the Greater Houston area for future flooding events.

More than 120 days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in August, the number of problematic wastewater treatment facilities finally can be counted on just two hands. As of Dec. 28, there were only 10 facilities considered inoperable or operating with issues by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Six of those facilities -- including three that are not operating at all -- were located in Harris County.

KYLE/SAN ANTONIO – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program is hosting two residential rainwater harvesting and turf management trainings in Kyle and San Antonio on Feb. 22 and 23, respectively. Both events are free and open to the public. Participants at either training can also have their soil tested free of charge. Both trainings will review how to assess soil test results and provide nutrient recommendations.

In a room used to hearing frustration and angst over high water bills, Charmaine Skillman had an unusual complaint. Her water bills are too low, she told Austin’s Electric Utility Commission on Monday. In six of the last 13 months, in fact, she’s been billed for less than 500 gallons of water for a house, followed by bills that are closer to normal.

Conroe Councilman Duane Ham is asking fellow council members to support him in requesting the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice to investigate the origin and creation of the San Jacinto River Authority and the SJRA's Groundwater Reduction Plan.

SAN BENITO — One nearly down — six to go. The city is closer to completing a $1.3 million project that is part of a multimillion-dollar effort aimed at complying with a state mandate stemming for a series of sewage spills about eight years ago. Today, city commissioners are expected to consider approving a $493,805 payment to G&T Paving Co. for improvements to a sewer lift station and main utility lines off Oscar Williams Road near the city’s water tower.

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) and The Aransas Project (TAP) have created an action plan to advance implementation of the GBRA/TAP Agreement (GBRA/TAP Agreement). The Agreement Implementation Plan seeks to realize GBRA’s and TAP’s shared vision for future habitat and water in the Guadalupe River System and San Antonio Bay.

Several recent national studies have found dozens of public utilities in Texas that supply tens of thousands of people with drinking water that contains illegal levels of radiation, lead and arsenic. So how concerned should Texans be when they turn on the tap? For those who live in urban areas, not very. But the studies have found that rural Texans are particularly at risk. The latest, published earlier this month by the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Working Group, identified 37 water utilities serving nearly 25,000 Texans in violation of federal standards for radium — a known carcinogen that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says isn't safe for human consumption at any level.

Using lasers shot out of a plane, local officials are updating the topography of the land in and around Harris County for the first time since 2010. The technology, called Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR, will help local officials have a detailed understanding of how the landscape has changed in recent years, especially after Hurricane Harvey swamped the region, potentially affecting shorelines and other contours of the land, said Tanya Nguyen, director of data services at the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

With a name that references its location at the meeting point of the San Antonio River and the San Pedro Creek, Confluence Park smartly rises from a city-owned lot formerly used to store construction vehicles. Commissioned by the San Antonio River Foundation (SARF) and designed by Lake | Flato Architects, Matsys, and Rialto Studio, the park features an education center with an eco-friendly roof, gardens dedicated to native plants, a dramatic, 30-foot-tall concrete pavilion that doubles as a massive water catchment system, and easy access to hiking, biking and kayaking along the Mission Reach.

A new report by the Environmental Working Group found nearly 25,000 Texans are drinking water deemed unsafe by EPA standards, with small communities in the Concho Valley. The study uses data gathered between 2010-15. The EPA sets the legal limit of radium in drinking water at 5 picocuries per liter, although it advises no level of radium in drinking water is safe because radium is considered cancer-causing.