News
Texas Legislature 101: Understanding the state government and how it passes laws
The first time Shera Eichler entered the Texas Capitol to work as a legislative aide in 2002, she was nervous. She didn’t have much experience at the Capitol, apart from a visit through a school field trip. But she was quickly promoted about a month later to chief of...
An ode to Texas’s disappearing swimming holes
I lived through the golden age of Texas swimming holes. Having spent my youth submerged in chlorinated pools in and around Fort Worth, I moved to Austin in 1973 and discovered Hippie Hollow before it was a county park and Barton Creek before a mining executive...
South Texas rancher profile: Native American Seed Company — Taking Texas back to her roots
Bill Neiman has performed as keynote speaker at over 100 events for like-minded naturalist people around the state of Texas. His topic is his passion — sustainable native grass prairies, clean rivers, rainwater harvesting, and harnessing the energy of the sun for the...
Opinion: It’s time for a water session at the Legislature
There are now over 30 million Texans. The state crossed that landmark in mid-2022, gaining the most new residents of any state in the nation, with projections of an additional 25 million people living in Texas by 2050. All that growth is taking its toll on the state’s...
Neighbors fighting rural concert venue
A developer wants to bring a 5,000-seat concert venue to a rural, two-lane road in Dripping Springs, about an hour and a half northeast of San Antonio — but neighbors are singing a different tune. The so-far-unnamed Fitzhugh Road concert venue started making waves in...
Preservation vs. development: Opinions differ on the future of Hill Country
Only about 5% of the area is currently protected from development. Hill Country Alliance Executive Director Katherine Romans believes projects like this are scary propositions. The organization noted that the region has grown 50% in the past 20 years. “Currently we...
An art series honoring state parks is on exhibit at the Bullock Texas State History Museum
An art exhibit called 'The Art of Texas State Parks' will first get shown at the Bullock Museum on Jan. 7 to April 30. It features more than 30 parks with artwork created from Texas' most celebrated artists. After these artworks are displayed in exhibition for three...
Texas’ first House Water Caucus positions water as a top priority this legislative session and beyond
Texas Water Foundation (TWF) today announced the establishment of the Texas House Water Caucus, a new, bi-partisan collaborative focused on water issues with a starting roster of thirty-eight legislators committed to the cause. As one of the fastest growing states in...
Residents in far north Bexar County fighting to protect endangered bird
A tiny bird is at the center of a growing battle over land development in far north Bexar County. Cibolo Canyons is home to the endangered golden-cheeked warbler, a bird native to Central Texas. A proposed land swap in is raising questions for neighbors. Read more...
Noisy neighbors: Musk’s Boring Co. and SpaceX unsettle rural Bastrop County
In August 2021, a handful of Bastrop County residents noticed something big unfolding on quiet Walker Watson Road. The two-lane road, about a quarter-mile long from end to end, bisects cow pastures, cornfields and woods. It’s lined by 15 homesteads, most on lots of 1...
Hays County partners with Hill Country Conservancy and La Cima to acquire Purgatory Creek Nature preserve as conservation land
Hays County has acquired Purgatory Creek Nature Preserve, a 1,068-acre conservation easement that will permanently protect and preserve the land from future development. This easement was proposed and sponsored by the Hill Country Conservancy (HCC) to be funded...
In Texas Hill Country, darkness enlightens and inspires
The city of Blanco sits on the edge of darkness, and it’s trying to stay there. Nestled in the rural Hill Country of Central Texas, the 1,700-person town is growing – but locals are wary of losing the longtime neighbor they all share: the neighbor that lives overhead....
Waters keep on dropping: As Medina Lake dries up, nearby wells run low, too
When David Cahill’s three wells ran out of water last year, he wasn’t surprised. It had been a long time coming, and he knew eventually he would have to dig another, deeper well on his property. Still, the final price — just under $30,000 — he didn’t expect. Read more...
PEACE: The time to conserve land is now
The Edwards Aquifer, source of Comal Springs, is recognized as one of the most prolific karst aquifer systems in the world. Storm water enters and travels through the system with amazing speed, allowing for rapid recharge of this elegant water source. However, this...
2022 was Austin’s driest year since drought-stricken, heat-scorched 2011
While we were rightfully worried about the hard freeze that descended upon Texas just before Christmas, you might have missed the news that drought conditions across the state have eased to levels not seen in more than a year. Unfortunately, the improvement comes too...
Weather, climate, and measuring chili pepper heat
I know someone in public relations; she avoids topics such as religion, politics, and the weather. Religion and politics can be very personal and areas of possible dissent. Talking about the weather, she tells me, might seem safe, but might in its safety bore the very...
How to prevent the next water crisis
Cities and farmers in Central Texas used to pump groundwater from the Edwards Aquifer much more freely—draining local springs and rivers and depriving several endangered species of a habitat. In the 1990s, the Sierra Club sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on...
Smart meter monitoring can help conserve water — but not without a fight, researchers find
The use of smart meters to enforce water restrictions could encourage widespread conservation — but not without local backlash, a new study has found. Amid California’s ongoing drought, researchers partnered with the city of Fresno in summer 2018 to access and...
outlook+water: Drought continues to improve, La Niña’s days are numbered, reservoirs levels rising
Summary: 75% of the state is abnormally dry or worse, and 52% of the state is in drought Equal chances for La Niña or neutral conditions for the January-March season and a 71% chance of neutral conditions for the February-April season Reservoir storage is still 10%...
Failing infrastructure, drought and floods: Texas’ top 10 water stories of 2022
For Texas’ water sector, 2022 was a rough year. Stories about failing infrastructure, drought and even floods captured state headlines. Many of these stories were grim and endured by millions across the state. Texans had to live without or boil their water, flee...
Report: Texas grid still not prepared for extreme winter weather
The Texas energy grid is still not fully prepared to weather a severe winter storm scenario, even after the string of upgrades and regulations that have followed 2021's winter storm, according to an Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) report published...
SAWS board approves legislative initiatives for 88th session
The San Antonio Water System’s board of trustees unanimously approved the utility’s legislative agenda for the upcoming session on Tuesday and said goodbye to a longtime SAWS MVP. SAWS hopes to use the session to support the continued development of “stable, equitable...
Shudde Fath, titan of Austin environmental causes, dies at age 106
Shudde Bess Bryson Fath, a prolific activist who battled to protect Austin's environment and its energy consumers, died early Friday at age 106. Born in 1916 in Bastrop, Fath graduated from the University of Texas in 1937 and worked for the state government for most...
Houses sprout up in the Texas Hill Country
Construction is set to begin next year on a 3,500-home subdivision on a ranch fronting Lake Travis, the latest batch of homes to blanket Austin's western flank. Why it matters: Suburban sprawl continues virtually unabated in the environmentally sensitive Hill Country....
Texas 2036’s Strategic Framework shows how Texas stacks up across key performance areas and against other states
As Texas looks toward its bicentennial, Texas 2036 releases a new data-driven roadmap for the state to be the best place to live and work. Reflecting more than six years of research and analysis, “Shaping Our Future: A Strategic Framework for Texas” was created by...
Wimberley approves transportation projects
After not seeing an update for 12 years, the Wimberley City Council unanimously approved some components of the proposed Transportation Master Plan last week. Earlier this year, the city of Wimberley engaged transportation consultants to study roadway safety, traffic...
Experts tout Texas as water-planning leader, but still stress potential shortages
Beneath the U.S. High Plains, a substantial underground reservoir stretches from the Texas Panhandle to South Dakota, providing drinking water for more than 2 million people and supplying the irrigation for dozens of valued crops across eight states, which account for...
Time is now to focus on water
We know the Texas Legislature will have a ton of issues on its plate when it goes back into session in January. Lawmakers have signaled interest in tackling border security operations, making the grid more reliable, addressing energy costs, fixing a broken foster care...
Texas approves $52M for water, wastewater, stormwater projects
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has recently approved $52,913,408 in financial assistance for water, wastewater, and stormwater projects. The funds were distributed to seven projects through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), the Drinking Water...
Drought forces cuts in Texas aquifer usage
The Ogallala Aquifer is not the only major groundwater source which has had notable declines because of drought in the southern United States. In south central Texas, the Edwards Aquifer has also had a big decline in its volume to the point that withdrawals from the...