News
SAWS says bid dispute won’t stop flow of Vista Ridge water
On a former ranch property near an elementary school in Stone Oak, the largest water tank ever built by the San Antonio Water System is under construction. The tank is approximately 81 feet tall and big enough to hold 10 million gallons, according to SAWS Vice...
Monarch Observers Expect Largest Migration in a Decade
Monarch butterflies are heading to San Antonio in a year that could claim the largest migration in a decade. Based on robust activity in the monarchs’ primary Midwestern breeding grounds, Monarch Watch founder and expert Chip Taylor predicted “the migration should be...
Seeking America’s Quietest Spots: The Quest for Silence in a Loud World
The hiker trudged up a logging road and into a valley, tracing a route that seemed unremarkable. There were no sweeping views of the mountains that towered nearby. There was no summit to scale. Yet he stopped suddenly, jubilant, after about four miles of walking. He...
Texas Supreme Court denies petition challenging New Braunfels ‘can ban’
The Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for review Friday that challenges New Braunfels' longtime "can ban." The ordinance, also referred to as the can ban, prohibits the use of can or any disposable items on the river, keeping the river cleaner and improving the...
Natural gas pipeline will cross county
One of North America’s largest pipeline companies is looking to cross Gillespie County with a natural gas pipeline stretching from the Permian Basin to near the Gulf of Mexico. Kinder Morgan officials told the Standard-Radio Post on Tuesday it is or will soon be in...
Lake Austin fish habitat enhanced by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, local partners
AUSTIN – Lake Austin, once considered to be one of the top trophy bass fishing destinations in the nation, has experienced a decline in natural fish habitat in recent years due to efforts to control nuisance aquatic vegetation. Without plentiful habitat it can be a...
Devils River Landowners Say Wind Farms Threaten Wild Character of Texas’ Last Untamed River
Conflicts between energy producers and conservationists are nothing new in Texas, but a recent fight in Val Verde County centers around wind farms and whether they belong in one of the wildest natural areas left in the state. Members of the Devils River Conservancy,...
The deadly lure of city lights
Every Sept. 11, beams of light rise more than four miles into the night sky from the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan to honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost in America’s most devastating terrorist attacks. The glowing columns elegantly trace the...
New Study: Riparian buffers Provide over $10,000/year/acre in reducing erosion, flooding, increased water purification, habitat, property values, more
A new study released Wednesday found just one acre of riparian forested buffer results in more than $10,000 in annual economic benefits, including reducing erosion and flooding, increasing water purification, wildlife habitat and property values. The study-- The...
Varsity Home Opener Spotlights City’s Environmental Cause
Wimberley, Texas, September 10, 2018 — Kick-off for the first Texan Varsity Football home game will be under Dark Sky Friendly lights Friday, September 14. Shining a spotlight on Wimberley Independent School District’s commitment to the city’s focus on environmental...
Exxon Mobil joins Kinder Morgan on $2B Permian Highway Pipeline
Exxon Mobil is signing on as a major customer on Kinder Morgan's planned, $2 billion Permian Highway Pipeline to carry natural gas from West Texas to the Houston region. Irving-based Exxon Mobil is looking for more outlets to transport its natural gas from its rapidly...
Preliminary Hearing For Electro Purification’s Proposed Permit Announced
The preliminary hearing for Electro Purification’s proposed permit has been announced. The hearing will take place, Monday, September 17, at the State Office of Administrative Hearings. TESPA, along with Hays County and several other individual landowners requested...
KVUE Defenders: Wastewater in waterways
"Would you want your kids in that river the way it is?" "The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality sited the Liberty Hill water treatment plant for six different violations, including failure to keep sewage from getting into the San Gabriel River." "The Edwards...
Report: Fecal bacteria found in 60% of Austin waterways
A new report by Environment Texas Research and Policy Center reveals that many of Austin's creeks and streams tested for high levels of bacteria in 2017. According to the report, 46 freshwater sites around Austin had levels of bacteria indicating levels of fecal...
Bacterial Pollution makes San Antonio creeks and rivers not swimmable
In early May, San Pedro Creek Culture Park opened with an outdoor festival that marked the transformation of a former concrete-lined channel to a public space with murals and fountains. Visitors, including children, splashed in the creek in the new Plaza de Fundación,...
Proposed sewage treatment plant near Honey Creek will recycle water, consultant says
A consultant in a planned subdivision has responded to concerns about a permit under review that would allow the discharge of treated sewage from the development upstream of Honey Creek, one of the most pristine waterways left in the Hill Country north of San Antonio....
Your next trip? It’s written in the stars
Like watching the sunset, seeking out the Big Dipper in the night sky is a vacation ritual. But in the past five years, according to experts, the term astrotourism has evolved to describe more intentional travel to places with dark skies and more visible stars....
A spillover of growth? Boerne cave business concerned development causing caves to flood
The owner and general manager of Cascade Caverns, a cave touring business nestled at the end of a winding road east of I-10, say the caves have seen unusual flooding in recent months, and they're blaming a series of subdivisions being built nearby. Pamela Brauchle,...
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. Each year the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) holds a photo contest encouraging...
Texas deer industry to bring concerns over chronic wasting disease to Legislature
For some Texans, there’s big money in deer. Breeding and raising whitetail deer, running deer hunts on ranches, it’s all part of a multibillion-dollar industry. But since 2015, deer breeders and the state have been locked in an old-fashioned standoff. Texas Parks and...
Battle over Wimberley sewage reaches critical juncture … again
The on-again, off-again Wimberley wastewater treatment plant is off again while the City Council revisits a plan to outsource to a private utility company. Emotions are running high in the Hays County town of about 3,000, divided over an issue that’s been the subject...
Water restrictions in effect in Austin for first time in two years
Water restrictions are in effect starting Monday in Austin, the first time in two years Austin Water has cut back the number of hours residents can water their lawns. Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan have dipped below a combined 1.4 million feet of water, triggering the...
What if another Harvey Hits?
On Aug. 24, 2017, we all watched the radar screen on the news as the storm gained energy in the Gulf of Mexico and began making its way toward the Texas coast. No one understood the unprecedented rainfall that was about to hit portions of Texas and Louisiana over the...
Bexar County weighs whether to join regional fight over Edwards Aquifer rights
Bexar County could soon join the fray in a legal battle over water rights that highlights the conflict between the fast-growing cities and suburbs around San Antonio and agricultural areas that also depend on the Edwards Aquifer. On Friday, Medina County Judge Chris...
Sand is choking Lake LBJ, but a battle looms over its removal
In early 2017, homeowners in Sandy Harbor, a waterfront community in the Highland Lakes chain where Lake Lyndon B. Johnson meets the mouth of Sandy Creek, called Kevin Collier about a problem: sand. There was so much of it that it was preventing some of them from...
Wildlife and The Wall
"I wish that everybody who wanted to build an actual, physical wall could come and see this place first, because I think if they came and saw it and realized what the wall was going through and what it would do would have a profound impact on their way of thinking."...
Honey Creek, a pristine Hill Country stream, could soon see treated sewage
Developers planning a subdivision of more than 2,300 homes in Comal County want to build a sewage treatment plant to discharge into one of the most pristine, spring-fed streams left in the Hill Country. According to a permit application filed with state environmental...
Texas Hill Country sets example for saving dark skies
Dripping Springs became the first city in Texas to become dark sky- certified by International Dark-Sky Association, and since the Texas Hill Country has become a hotbed for dark sky preservation. Dripping Springs City Administrator Michelle Fischer said there are...
Texas on pace for worst wildfire year since 2011
Last week, nearly 100 firefighters from across Texas loaded up and headed west to join thousands of colleagues in an extended battle against massive wildfires burning across Northern California, one of which has become the largest in that state’s history. While the...
As lake levels drop, LCRA undergoes review that could lead to legislative changes
The Lower Colorado River Authority is in the midst of its first sunset review, which could result in the Texas Legislature mandating the entity make changes to its performance and mission. Organizations such as nonprofit Central Texas Water Coalition see the sunset...