News & Updates
Mason Pioneers Attend Texas Water Day at the Capitol
On March 22nd, past, present and future Pioneers of Mason High School attended Texas Water Day at the state Capitol. Pioneers Board of Directors member and President and CEO of the Texas Water Foundation, Carole Baker, invited the students to be a part of Texas Water...
Operators take action to darken skies around McDonald Observatory
Dark skies are surrounding the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory at Fort Davis. And that’s a good thing. The Permian Basin Petroleum Association, in collaboration with the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, recently issued its recommended lighting...
West Travis County utility agency to Hamilton Pool Road developer: No water service for added project
Although Travis County Commissioners Court approved a preliminary plan March 7 for the first phase of Provence, a proposed neighborhood in the 17024 block of Hamilton Pool Road of the unincorporated portion of the county, the West Travis County Public Utility Agency...
How state agency-funded research often tilts toward development
When state transportation officials two years ago dismissed the possibility that endangered songbirds lived in a strip of southwest Travis County earmarked for a major highway, they relied on a familiar tool — environmental researchthey had commissioned. That road,...
ButterBike visits Junction
Each spring millions of monarch butterflies leave the mountains of Central Mexico, where they survived the winter, to begin their annual migration north. This spring they are accompanied by cyclist Sara Dykman (age 32) from Kansas who is biking 10,000 miles from the...
Conversations on Water Heating up at 85th Legislative Session
We’ve been tracking the latest in water news from the pink dome in Austin. This compilation of some of the most recent developments include conversations around a Hays County ranch looking to skirt groundwater pumping restrictions, a proposed law that would...
Commentary | South Texas to Trump: If you want our land to build a wall, come and take it
On Jan. 25, President Donald Trump ordered “the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border.” His pledge to “build the wall” and make Mexico pay for it, was a big applause line on the campaign trail. In Texas, however, many are concerned about...
New USGS assessment provides fresh insights into nation’s brackish groundwater inventory
A new nationwide assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the nation’s brackish groundwater could help stretch limited freshwater supplies. This study, the first of its kind in more than 50 years, found that the amount of brackish groundwater underlying...
Are Your Streetlights Killing You?
“Not only is blue-rich white LED street lighting five times more disruptive to our sleep cycle than conventional street lighting, according to the report, but recent large surveys have documented that brighter residential nighttime lighting is associated with reduced...