exTRA by the Trinity River Authority of Texas

It’s been over a year since one of Huntington’s three water wells has been down due to years of deterioration. The other two, located in the Fuller Springs community, currently meet the populations water demand, but what will happen when the population increases?

Long-awaited rainfall in the Little River watershed has prompted the Brazos River Authority to downgrade the drought status designation for Lake Proctor from Stage 4 Pro Rate Curtailment to Stage 1 – Drought Watch. The downgrade of the drought designation allows those receiving water supply from Lake Proctor to move from a mandatory 30 percent reduction to a voluntary 5 percent reduction in water use that would have occurred in the absence of any drought contingency measures.

The city of Abilene is planning to take water from the lake for its water supply. On its way, the water will go through reverse osmosis in Breckenridge — a process that will filter the water to remove salt. The salt that is filtered out would then go back into the lake in the form of wastewater, known as reject water.

Should salty water be dumped back into Possum Kingdom Lake? Residents raise concerns (yahoo.com)

The Corsicana City Council municipal fee increased the water base rate by 50 cents per connection and the Volumetric Rate by 50 cents per 1,000 gallons. The water rate increase will take effect on Oct. 1, 2024, with another water rate increase of the same amount expected as of Oct. 1, 2025.

While the City of Hillsboro is working to start the construction of the Super Ditch, they ran into another issue.

Bee Cave residents should expect to be able to water their lawns twice a week this summer instead of the current once-a-week restrictions because of recent rains, the City Council was told on Tuesday. Jack Creveling, vice president of the West Travis County Public Utility Agency, which provides water service to Bee Cave and other areas, said the agency will be matching the restriction levels to what the Lower Colorado River Authority orders.

The executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has made her final decision regarding Leprino Foods’ request to dump treated wastewater into Dunbar Lake. Kelly Keel has decided Leprino’s permit application meets legal requirements. This decision does not authorize construction or operation of the wastewater facility.

Fort Worth’s ambitious Trinity River water wheel project faces funding hurdles and major changes. Can this trash-cleaning solution become a reality?

After receiving approval from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December of 2021, the city of Shamrock is moving forward with the first of four phases giving a complete overhaul to its water infrastructure. 

Every two weeks hundreds of fish are placed in Neighborhood Fishin’ lakes around North Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) stocks 18 locations across Texas with fish as part of an effort to give individuals and families the opportunity to fish in suburban and urban areas.

The city hopes this will prevent the kind of flooding common in neighborhoods like Linwood and Arlington Heights.

Fort Worth approves new rules to protect homes and businesses from flash flooding (yahoo.com)

Liberty Hill has filed a motion for the TCEQ to hold another hearing on the state's order to reduce the phosphorus the city releases in the river. According to the city's motion, the TCEQ failed to consider the other policies in the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards about maintaining existing industries, considering economic development, encouraging development of wastewater facilities and considering all other reasonable methods. The commissioners also violated the standards by seeking to improve the water quality rather than just maintaining it, the motion said.

Authorities are lowering water levels in Lake Houston and Lake Conroe to mitigate flood risks from an approaching tropical system expected to impact the area with heavy rains.

The Round Rock City Council was met with hollers and applause Thursday night when it voted unanimously to approve an out-of-city wastewater agreement with a developer intending to build low-density, multi-family housing between Round Rock and Hutto. Since the agreement was passed, the developer will be required to build the housing plan to Round Rock’s stricter city standards, pay wastewater connection fees, a transportation fee and the higher out-of-city wastewater rate.

On Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center released its first forecast cone for a storm that could become Tropical Storm Alberto. According to KXAN First Warning Weather Chief Meteorologist Nick Bannin, Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 1 is expected to make landfall in Mexico Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

In anticipation of severe weather, officials at the San Jacinto River Authority have begun reducing water levels in Lake Conroe with a controlled release of 660 cubic feet per second that commenced Friday. This preemptive measure aims to mitigate the impact of potential flooding from the approaching storms, which are expected to usher in a substantial amount of tropical moisture.

Pflugerville and state leaders broke ground on the Wilbarger Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment facility, a project that, at completion, will be close to 20 years in the making. The $247 million investment was financed with the help of low-interest loans from the EPA and Texas Water Development Board. At completion, the facility will have a capacity of 6 million gallons of water a day.

Austin Water is planning a landscape transformation initiative for new single-family homes as part of the city’s long-range water conservation strategies, according to a progress report Wednesday to the Water and Wastewater Commission. Kevin Critendon, Austin Water’s assistant director over environmental, planning and development services, noted that while rainfall in May brought the combined Highland Lakes storage level to about 56 percent, Austin remains in a stubborn drought with once-weekly outdoor watering restrictions.

The Tyler City Council approved an engineering agreement with C.T. Brannon Corporation for $420,285.00 to extend the 12-inch diameter water main at Highway 271 to FM 14 and North Broadway Avenue. The existing water line on Highway 271 ends south of Loop 323, and the project will begin there. It will extend north past Loop 323 before turning west to connect to the 16-inch water line on FM 14. North Broadway Avenue currently has multiple undersized mains that are not looped. 

The city of Donna will receive over $3.3 million for a wastewater system improvement project, according to the Texas Water Development Board. The funds include $2.3 million in financing and over $1 million in principal forgiveness from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the news release stated.