News & Updates
Why are Austin’s trees having such a colorful autumn?
Austin is known for a lot of things, but fall foliage is not one of them. That is, until this year. Local trees are putting on an incredible color show lately. It seems like it came out of nowhere, but it didn’t. “This is my 24th fall in Austin, and I've never seen...
Water Forward plan including artificial aquifers, graywater reuse gets council nod
A 100-year water resiliency plan that calls for massive underground reservoirs and reuse of wastewater is now city policy after gaining the approval of the Austin City Council. The plan, dubbed Water Forward, has been in the works since 2014, when years of drought led...
Sen. Campbell files bill to address quarries, concrete plants in Texas Hill Country
AUSTIN – State Senator Donna Campbell filed Senate Bill 208 today to extend requirements for setbacks, or buffer zones, around aggregate facilities. If passed, the bill would double the current 440 yard requirement between concrete plants or quarries and existing...
State judge sides with Dripping Springs in wastewater permit hearing
The city of Dripping Springs will proceed with its wastewater permit application after a state judge sided with the city on all 12 issues raised by Save Our Springs Alliance—an Austin-area environmental nonprofit. The State Office of Administrative Hearings conducted...
Meyer Ranch to add 1,600 homes in rural northwest
With projects in Georgetown, Liberty Hill and Round Rock, developers Todd McCullough and Randy Rollo of Randolph Todd Development said they had an interest in expanding to the south end of the Austin-San Antonio corridor. Three years ago the Austin-based developers...
Will sewage treatment plants spoil the Hill Country?
The picturesque town of Blanco; a planned Christian recreational adventure camp in Bandera County; a Kerr County alcohol and drug addiction rehabilitation center hoping to treat more patients; a proposed subdivision in Comal County, just upstream of a state natural...
Water symposium addresses the future of flooding in Texas
One month after the destructive flooding of Texas Hill Country rivers led to multiple deaths and tens of millions of dollars in property damage, scientists, regional water management leaders, and academics are still weighing the consequences and the prospect of future...
In Bandera County, neighbors fight plans to discharge wastewater from youth camp
TARPLEY – Charles and John Blackwell stood at the edge of their property with their neighbor Margo Denke Griffin and pointed out the clear water pouring across their land in Commissioners Creek. “You can always see the bottom,” Charles Blackwell said of the creek,...
Making the connection: Watersheds and our water supplies
The heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding Central Texas faced a few weeks ago broke records and served as an important reminder about the connection between land and water. After experiencing one of the wettest Septembers on the state’s record, followed by...