News
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...
Hill Country photo contest winners announced
The Texas Hill Country is a unique region filled with diverse wildlife, clear springs, sprawling rural landscapes, historic towns and some of the starriest night skies in the country. With a rapidly growing population and increasing development coming into the region,...
Ongoing drought, growing population and aging infrastructure affecting water supplies
Having enough water for Austin's growing population is a huge concern. Add the ongoing drought, record-breaking heat and aging infrastructure and you can see why water managers and conservationists are worried about the future. The KVUE Defenders looked into what's...
Window on a Canyon Lake Sunset’ by Jerry Sargent places third in HCA’s 2022 Hill Country Photo Contest
Canyon Lake photographer Jerry Sargent’s photograph, ‘Window on a Canyon Lake Sunset,’ placed third in the Hill Country Alliance’s (HCA) 2022 Hill Country Photo Contest. HCA announced the winners today. Sargent’s image will appear in HCA’s 2023 calendar. His...
Go native with soil health
Have you heard? There’s a whole world of life in the soil beneath your boots. News about the benefits of soil health is everywhere and agricultural producers across Texas are taking notice. Healthy soils lead to clean air and water, bountiful crops and forests,...
Comal residents continue to oppose quarry
Comal County community members are contesting an air quality permit for a proposed 1,500-acre limestone quarry between New Braunfels and Bulverde, arguing that the quarry is harmful for human health and welfare. Environmental organizations in Hill Country requested a...
Low Lake Travis water levels are impacting businesses, residents
Drought conditions and low water levels in Lake Travis continue to affect business owners and residents who live and work in this area, and this is especially true for those in the lake’s inlet near Hudson Bend, several residents said. “I’ve lived in the area for 27...
Hill Country ‘snapshots’ captured in 2023 calendar
The 2022 winners in the "Snapshot of the Hill Country" photo contest have been chosen, and you can hang their work on your wall with a 2023 calendar. The Hill Country Alliance contest "challenged photographers to capture the fleeting beauty of life" in the region,...
HCA advocates talk water challenges, opportunities
Hill Country water advocates from across the region gathered in Bandera on Oct. 13 for a day of learning, connecting, and strategizing for water stewardship in our region. “The work to protect our aquifers and rivers is challenging but vital to the longterm prosperity...
Hill Country photo contest winners announced
The Hill Country Alliance (HCA) announced Wednesday it had selected the winners of a photo contest recording the beauty of the area. The four winners of the 2022 Hill Country Photo Contest will be featured in the 2023 Texas Hill Country Calendar. Yu Zhou won the grand...
119 acres of scenic Hill Country views and habitat protected forever!
Querencia is the home of landowners Deborah Elliott and Pat Davis. The name of the property is a Spanish word referring to one’s safe place, or a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home. The place where one is their most authentic self. Since...
Texas’ plan to provide water for a growing population virtually ignores climate change
Texas’ biggest single solution to providing enough water for its soaring population in the coming decades is using more surface water, including about two dozen new large reservoirs. But climate change has made damming rivers a riskier bet. ZAPATA — This small South...
2022 Hill Country photo contest winners announced and 2023 Calendar for sale!
The 2023 Hill Country Calendar is sold out! If you did not yet order your calendars, you'll have to wait until 2024. While we're sorry for folks who missed out this year, we are so grateful for the support of everyone that has ordered. Thank you to all who supported...
San Antonio’s treated sewage proving vital to river and estuaries
It’s easy to turn up your nose at what you flush down your toilet, but once the city cleans that wastewater, it can benefit the San Antonio River. Treated effluent makes up 90 percent of the flow in the river. It keeps aquatic plants and animals alive. It cools...
New project seeks ‘equitable adaptation’ of urban stormwater infrastructure, management
The National Science Foundation recently announced project awards for its Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) planning grant program, and the team led by Wendy Jepson, Ph.D., Texas Water Resources Institute associate director and University Professor of Geography in...
Opinion: Texas has a long way to go to live up to vision of Clean Water Act
Last month the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) voted to remove what would have been a first-ever microplastics ban from its proposed Surface Water Quality Standards. The decision went against the support of numerous environmental organizations and...
Dried Up: Hydrologists dig into Jacob’s Well, prepare for explosive Hill Country growth
Texas researchers are taking a closer look at the future of the Trinity Aquifer. The aquifer, which provides much of the drinking water to the Texas Hill Country, has seen a sharp decline amid rapid growth and years of extreme drought. The research could help...
Feral hogs back in the crosshairs for bounties in Hays, Caldwell counties
Hunters and landowners, it’s time again to go hog wild. Feral hogs in Texas wreak havoc on the environment, and Hays and Caldwell counties are renewing an effort to curtail the curly tailed nuisance species. Read more from Annie Blanks with San Antonio Express-News...
Grassroots gathering of Hill Country water advocates reveals ongoing water challenges and opportunities in the region
Hill Country water advocates from across the region gathered in Bandera, TX on October 13th for a day of learning, connecting, and strategizing for water stewardship in our region. “The work to protect our aquifers and rivers is challenging but vital to the long-term...
Looking to re-wild your yard and stray from St. Augustine grass? Native American Seed is here to help!
As we learn more about living mutualistically with nature, we find an increasing number of things in our lives that we need to change. In the 1960s, for example, the world learned about CFCs in hairspray and what those chemicals were doing to our ozone layer. So, in...
Pedernales river springs salamanders may be federally recognized as endangered
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the Pedernales River springs salamander will undergo status reviews to be put on the federal endangered species list. The Pedernales River springs salamander was discovered in 2019 by researchers at The University of...
In Texas, a new study will determine where extreme weather hazards and environmental justice collide
The way Geeta Persad sees it, the nation’s great coastal cities are facing an environmental reckoning with threats from both the air and the sea. In the air, there is the belching, toxic exhaust from factories, petrochemical facilities, sewage treatment plants and...
Groundwater sampling helps better understand Edwards-Trinity Aquifers
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and scientists from the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) are studying water deep underground to further understand how drought and pumping affect the quality and quantity of groundwater that flows...
Texas heat index could soon surpass 120 degrees, study finds
A recent report published by the First Street Foundation found soon the heat index could surpass 125 degrees in much of Texas. The study was first reported by our media partners with the Texas Tribune. The increase in the heat index is a result of climate change....
Abandoned “dry hole” oil wells are polluting Texas farms, ranches and groundwater. The state won’t fix them.
Schuyler Wight is a fourth-generation rancher who has raised longhorn cattle outside Midland for decades. Wight is no geologist, but over the years, he’s had to familiarize himself with what lies underground. Scattered across his sprawling 20,000-acre ranch are more...
Sadly, “A Day Without Water” is becoming all to common for Texans
For many Texans, “a day without water” is not an imagined experience—it’s just another day. Some communities have never had running water. For the rest of us, experiencing days without water has become the rule rather than the exception. The one-two punch of...
Rapidly growing Dripping Springs ends development moratorium
After nearly a year, the rapidly growing city of Dripping Springs is no longer under a development moratorium. That means commercial and residential development can, and has, resumed — but that doesn’t mean the small Hays County city’s growing pains are solved. Read...