News & Updates
Tucson, Arizona, U.S. Skyglow Reduced 7% after Street Light Conversion
John Barentine, Director of Conservation at the International Dark-Sky Association, is the lead author of a recent study published online by the Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. Although Barentine has previously published papers in the...
No Resolution in Sight For Ranchers and Farmers Fighting Over San Saba River
Why is a 40-mile stretch of the San Saba river running dry during the summers? That was the central question at a Texas House Natural Resources Committee hearing in Brady on Wednesday. As the Observer first reported last year, a significant stretch of the San Saba, a...
Hays County water fight is back on, 3 years after residents’ big win
Three years ago, Hays County’s grass-roots Save Our Wells group took on a Houston-based company that found a regulatory loophole allowing it to pump millions of gallons of water from the already-strained Trinity Aquifer and sell it. The dispute culminated in...
San Marcos Urges Water Conservation As Aquifer Level Falls
The City of San Marcos is urging water conservation because of rapidly dropping aquifer levels and the prospect of Stage 2 drought rules quickly approaching. Stage 2 is implemented when the 10-day average Edwards Aquifer index well level falls below 650 feet above...
Deal to limit Dripping Springs sewage plant discharge hits snag
After years of fighting a proposal to expand a sewage treatment plant that would dump treated wastewater into a creek that feeds Barton Springs, the city of Austin, groundwater conservation districts, Onion Creek property owners and the Save Barton Creek Association...
In a Warming West, the Rio Grande Is Drying Up
Mario Rosales, who farms 365 acres along the Rio Grande, knows the river is in bad shape this year. It has already dried to a dusty ribbon of sand in some parts, and most of the water that does flow is diverted to irrigate crops, including Mr. Rosales’s fields of...
Guadalupe bass back story
The Texas state record Guadalupe bass measured 17.25 inches, weighed only 3.71 pounds, and was caught on fly fishing tackle from the Colorado River downstream from Austin. What might seem like a yawner of a catch to the average bass angler has greater impact outside...
Water scientist by profession, humorist by choice
To hear Dr. Robert Mace speak at a water conference is to hear a very knowledgeable water expert mixing in a little humor on the side. Determined to retain the interest of the audience, many times Mace titles his presentations with humorous names, such as “Gone With...
Reforestation experts help restore a wild Blanco River
Each week, Ina Alexatos drives throughout Wimberley in a Subaru Forester with the words Trees for the Blanco printed across the side. She visits riverside landowners one by one to consult them on letting their banks go wild. She then stakes orange flags to mark where...