News
Adding partner on Hays County area pipeline will cut costs by $60M
A Seguin-based water authority will be joining a $325 million pipeline project for the rapidly growing South Central Texas area, cutting costs by more than $60 million. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and Alliance Regional Water Authorityhave partnered to build...
Austin’s on the wrong side of the 100th meridian
The invisible line that divides the arid western part of the country from the wetter eastern half is on the move, and that has important implications for the Texas capital. Meet Robert Lee. Not the Confederate general, the town. Robert Lee, Texas is a ranching...
One Water: The future of land and water in Central Texas
For centuries, the Texas Hill Country has been a region defined by its water resources. Early European settlers traced the paths of the San Antonio, Nueces, Guadalupe, and Colorado Rivers, following their rocky beds, spring-fed tributaries, and shallow draws, no doubt...
Hays County residents fear the fight to protect their water was all for nothing
Hays County residents thought their water was saved. Houston-based Electro Purification had plans to pump 5.3 million gallons of water per day from the Trinity Aquifer. The area wasn't regulated by any groundwater conservation district, meaning the water was...
State Lawmakers: who owns the right to groundwater?
Many rural groundwater conservation boards are considering or have already decided to export some of their water to nearby urban centers. Farmers are concerned the state is developing a Robin Hood system for its water needs, one where landowners lose. Lt. Gov. Dan...
River cane eradication digs into third year
The joint project to eradicate Arundo donax, also called river cane or giant cane, is going into its third year along Barons Creek and Town Creek in and around Fredericksburg. The project combines Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Department of...
Aquifer district presents plan to harness EP
Almost 200 Hays County residents crammed into the Wimberley Community Center Monday to hear the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District’s (BSEACD) recommendation on a 2.5 million gallon per day pumping permit by Electro Purification (EP). BSEACD general...
EP request is an alarming threat to groundwater
"In 2014, when Electro Purification Corporation (EP) planned to pump massive amounts of water from the unregulated portion of the Trinity Aquifer in Hays County, residents worked with BSEACD to bring this region under regulatory oversight. We were successful in the...
The Fight for Comal County
"We're literally loving the Hill Country to death." These words of warning did not fall on deaf ears at a packed public forum, “Local Control Options for Hill Country Counties,” on June 5 at GVTC Auditorium. Attendees learned the only real chance they have of gaining...
Comal County Conservation Alliance moving forward with preservation efforts
Late last year, a group of concerned citizens began a conversation about land conservation in Comal County. As a result, a domestic nonprofit has been formed centered around conserving open spaces and other natural resources in the nation’s second-fastest growing...
Do zebra mussels in our lakes have an upside? State experts say no
An animal the size of a grain of sand with the growth potential of about an inch and half has infested Lake Travis. Its sharp shell can cut up lakegoers’ feet and its rapid reproduction can cause economic and ecological damage. In less than a year, the population of...
Two aquifer districts join the fight against Dripping Springs wastewater
A preliminary hearing was held last week by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), resulting in the addition of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) and Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) to the battle...
Wimberley Valley Cities become third International Dark Sky Community in Texas
In recognition of noteworthy local efforts to reduce light pollution and promote the benefits of nighttime darkness, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) today designated the Wimberley Valley of Texas as an International Dark Sky Community. It is only the...
Needmore Water Grab Closer to Fruition – Landowners and Hill Country Groundwater at Risk
On Wednesday June 6th, the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a ruling dismissing TESPA's Motion for Summary Disposition in the Needmore Water LLC Contested Case, granting Needmore and BSEACD's Motions and cancelling...
LCRA asks to drill eight water wells into the Simsboro Aquifer
The Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District is gearing up to adjudicate a request from the region’s largest utility entity to drill eight water wells in Bastrop County and suck billions of gallons of water per year from the underlying Simsboro Aquifer. In...
New Mexico official says Texas landowners are “stealing” millions of gallons of water and selling it back for fracking
After you head northeast on Ranch Road 652 from tiny Orla, it’s easy to miss the precise moment you leave Texas and cross into New Mexico. The sign just says “Lea County Line,” and with 254 counties in Texas, you’d be forgiven for not knowing there isn’t one named...
Tackling Future Hill Country Water Needs: ‘We Can’t Solve The Problem Alone’
“We are looking at starting the summer months, in the Hill Country, with only five inches of rain,” Katherine Romans, Executive Director of the Hill Country Alliance, explained during the opening of the most recent Texas Water Symposium on Wednesday, May 30. As the...
Austin’s quaintest neighbor aims to become 3rd Texas city to earn dark sky status
Only two Texas cities currently hold the coveted “dark sky status,” as designated by the International Dark-Sky Association. But Horseshoe Bay and Dripping Springs could soon be joined by forever-small town Fredericksburg. If Fredericksburg has anything to say about...
Mason, TX “The gem of the Hill Country”
Mason is a farming and ranching community with a significant artist presence. Having originated as a Germansettlement, Mason is not very ethnically diverse, but our population is very diverse in age approximately 22%under 18, 25% between 25 and 44, 29% between 45 and...
Tucson, Arizona, U.S. Skyglow Reduced 7% after Street Light Conversion
John Barentine, Director of Conservation at the International Dark-Sky Association, is the lead author of a recent study published online by the Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. Although Barentine has previously published papers in the...
No Resolution in Sight For Ranchers and Farmers Fighting Over San Saba River
Why is a 40-mile stretch of the San Saba river running dry during the summers? That was the central question at a Texas House Natural Resources Committee hearing in Brady on Wednesday. As the Observer first reported last year, a significant stretch of the San Saba, a...
Hays County water fight is back on, 3 years after residents’ big win
Three years ago, Hays County’s grass-roots Save Our Wells group took on a Houston-based company that found a regulatory loophole allowing it to pump millions of gallons of water from the already-strained Trinity Aquifer and sell it. The dispute culminated in...
San Marcos Urges Water Conservation As Aquifer Level Falls
The City of San Marcos is urging water conservation because of rapidly dropping aquifer levels and the prospect of Stage 2 drought rules quickly approaching. Stage 2 is implemented when the 10-day average Edwards Aquifer index well level falls below 650 feet above...
Deal to limit Dripping Springs sewage plant discharge hits snag
After years of fighting a proposal to expand a sewage treatment plant that would dump treated wastewater into a creek that feeds Barton Springs, the city of Austin, groundwater conservation districts, Onion Creek property owners and the Save Barton Creek Association...
In a Warming West, the Rio Grande Is Drying Up
Mario Rosales, who farms 365 acres along the Rio Grande, knows the river is in bad shape this year. It has already dried to a dusty ribbon of sand in some parts, and most of the water that does flow is diverted to irrigate crops, including Mr. Rosales’s fields of...
Guadalupe bass back story
The Texas state record Guadalupe bass measured 17.25 inches, weighed only 3.71 pounds, and was caught on fly fishing tackle from the Colorado River downstream from Austin. What might seem like a yawner of a catch to the average bass angler has greater impact outside...
Water scientist by profession, humorist by choice
To hear Dr. Robert Mace speak at a water conference is to hear a very knowledgeable water expert mixing in a little humor on the side. Determined to retain the interest of the audience, many times Mace titles his presentations with humorous names, such as “Gone With...
Reforestation experts help restore a wild Blanco River
Each week, Ina Alexatos drives throughout Wimberley in a Subaru Forester with the words Trees for the Blanco printed across the side. She visits riverside landowners one by one to consult them on letting their banks go wild. She then stakes orange flags to mark where...
BSEACD Staff Recommends Issuing EP Permit in Phases with Special Conditions
In July of 2017, Electro Purification, LLC ("EP") applied for a groundwater production permit at the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District ("BSEACD") for a Middle Trinity Aquifer well field in Hays County. The permit application indicates that pumping...
Is new wastewater treatment plant to blame for algae in river?
The South San Gabriel River was so clear as it flowed past Frank and LaWann Tull’s house on Waterford Lane in Georgetown that they held baptisms for their church in April 2016 and April 2017. But this year they couldn’t. Around the beginning of April, t he river...