News & Updates
Ranchers raising birds to boost biodiversity
If you step outside into the morning sun but don’t hear birds singing, you may have a problem. “Birds are a leading indicator of what’s happening in your ecosystem,” says Chad Lemke, a Texas rancher who took over his family’s operation in the early 2000s with his...
Critics set to push back against Comal County project that calls for 1,400 homes, wastewater plant
Environmental groups are asking Texas regulators to say no to a proposed Comal County development that calls for 1,400 homes and a plant that could release 600,000 gallons of treated wastewater a day into a creek that feeds the Comal River. The Texas Commission on...
WATCH: Panelists discuss managing Hill Country development amid finite water resources
Partnerships among land developers, public entities and nonprofits will be vital in managing the Texas Hill Country’s water resources in the coming years, experts said during a panel discussion Wednesday hosted by the San Antonio Report. But whether state legislators...
Texas’ water infrastructure is broken, jeopardizing quality and supply for a growing state
The Lone Star State’s drinking water infrastructure barely received a passing grade in a 2021 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, a low mark for the nation’s second-most-populous state with a reputation for bravado. The multibillion-dollar situation...
Kerr County goes big on BMPs: Operators, community activists and the local government are working together to create a more collaborative environment through a focus on voluntary best management practices
In Texas Hill Country, where there had been an acrimonious relationship between aggregate producers and local residents, the two groups came together – along with local government officials and business people – to develop a voluntary best management practice (BMP)...
Climate change not part of LCRA water plan. KXAN investigation may change that
Karen Bruett has called Lake Travis home since 1999. “This lake is more than a play thing,” Bruett said, of the body of water just northwest of Austin. “This lake is actually our drinking water. We have that visceral experience of turning on our tap and knowing that...
House advances bill that could provide billions of dollars for new water projects and fixing aging infrastructure
A new fund to jumpstart massive water supply projects and fix aging water infrastructure across the state would be created under legislation that received approval from the Texas House on Wednesday, in a vote of 136-8. The fund could get between $1 billion and $3...
Hundreds turn out to oppose permit for Hill Country wastewater plant
As many as 300 people packed into a ballroom of a DoubleTree hotel on the city’s Northwest Side for a public hearing to voice their opposition to the construction of a wastewater plant that would dump millions of gallons of treated effluent into Helotes Creek....
The Texas city where mermaids inspire river conservation
The first thing visitors to the central Texas city of San Marcos notice are the mermaids. They’re everywhere, in some form. At the playground, one of the city’s fiberglass mermaid statues stands seven feet tall, her tail and hair painted in a rainbow of neon colors....