News
2012 Water Quality News
December 4, 2012 Wimberley considers wastewater discharge The Wimberley City Council is hosting a meeting Wednesday, December 5th at 6 pm to consider public input about wastewater discharge into Deer Creek. Wimberley creeks flow to the Blanco, which recharges the...
2012 Water Planning News
December 17, 2012 Behind the scary water headlines It’s hard to look at any media in Texas today without being confronted by a dire outlook on the state’s water future. The jarring effects of a deep drought and the steep price tag attached to the state’s water plan...
2012 Water Conservation News
December 9, 2012 Water Conservation Matters – even with no drought What Mike says to San Angelo can apply throughout the Hill Country, “If San Angelo and the region are to continue to survive and prosper economically and if Texas is to be sustainable with its limited...
2012 Rainwater News
December 9, 2012 Water Conservation Matters – even with no drought What Mike says to San Angelo can apply throughout the Hill Country, “If San Angelo and the region are to continue to survive and prosper economically and if Texas is to be sustainable with its limited...
2012 Groundwater News
December 12, 2012 In Central Texas, a rush to secure water rights Amid a persistent drought that has rattled Texans about water supplies, cities and investors are jockeying to purchase millions of gallons of underground water and pipe it to rapidly growing...
A fiscal conservative’s manifesto against sprawl
"But, while my concern with sprawling growth patterns was rooted in their effect on the landscape, on the environment, and on severely compromised populations left behind, Chuck is all about the money. As Thoughts on Building Strong Towns makes quite clear, Chuck...
August 2012 News Archive
August 28, 2012 Hill Country River and Stream Angler Survey Underway Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division is partnering with Texas Tech University’s Department of Biological Sciences and the TTU Llano River Field Station to conduct a...
July 2012 News Archive
July 30, 2012 Save It for a Sunny Day Hard-packed, fractured stretches of bone-dry earth and pale, cloudless skies with months of unrelenting heat isn’t exactly an appropriate backdrop for a conversation about rainwater harvesting. Or is it? Sanjeev Kalaswad,...
June 2012 News Archives
June 25, 2012 EAA Declares Stage 4 for Uvalde Pool The Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA ), for the first time in its history, has declared Stage IV mandatory pumping reductions for Edwards Aquifer users within the Uvalde Pool (Uvalde County). Read more from AACOG. Life...
May 2012 News Archive
May 31, 2012 Southern Great Plains could run out of groundwater in 30 years, study finds Key farming regions in the US are drawing water from underground sources at unsustainable rates, with slightly more than one-third of the southern Great Plains at risk of tapping...
2012 Drought News
November 21, 2012 LCRA hands down compromise emergency drought order “The water release planning for 2013 has been the subject of a collision of interests as drought drags on in the region,” Read the Statesman report here. This decision is described as...
April 2012 News Archive
April 13, 2012 Rainwater Revival Opens Grant Applications to Schools in 17 Hill Country Counties The Hill Country Alliance, organizer of the Rainwater Revival, is seeking grant applications from elementary and middle schools in 17 counties throughout the Hill Country...
March 2012 News Archive
March 30, 2012 International Water Expert to Highlight Sierra Club Water Conference, April 27 Brian Richter, an international authority on river conservation and the director of The Nature Conservancy’s Global Freshwater Program, will be the keynote speaker for a...
Golden-cheeked Warbler comes home
Early March marks the return of the golden-cheeked warbler to the Texas Hill Country. Of the nearly 360 bird species that breed in Texas, the golden-cheeked warbler is the only one that nests exclusively in Texas. The major environmental threat to the warbler is...
February 2012 News Archive
February 28 2012 Groundwater ruling potentially unleashes geyser of future cases Prompted by the severity of the current drought, Texans have been earnestly discussing how to manage the state's water resources for the next several decades to meet the needs of a...
January 2012 News Archive
January 31, 2012 Spicewood Beach and neighbors getting water trucked in A Central Texas community has run out of water amid a statewide drought, prompting the Lower Colorado River Authority to start trucking in water. Read more from Statesman.com. January 24, 2012...
December 2011 News Archive
December 29, 2011 The Texas Water Crisis Texas water authorities at every level are on alert. Last summer’s extremely hot, dry weather was a wake-up call. Now more than a dozen Texas towns are in danger of running out of water. Texas is in a water crisis. To make it...
2011 County Authority News
February 21, 2011 Growing pains come with rise in population As civic leaders in San Antonio and surrounding communities began digesting new census figures released Thursday, the implications of the region's 25 percent population increase were both gratifying and...
2011 Public Lands News
December 28, 2011 Travis County park purchase to add access to Pedernales River Earlier this month, Travis County commissioners closed on a 770-acre ranch owned by Eugene and Jean Reimers in southwestern Travis County near the Hays County line that will connect Milton...
2011 Native Landscape News
October 24, 2011 Texas Invasive Plant and Pest Conference Seeks to Combat Growing Threat The 2011 Texas Invasive Plant and Pest Conference, hosted by Texas Invasive Plant and Pest Council (TIPPC), will be held November 8-10 at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center....
2011 Local/Sustainable Agriculture News
January 2, 2011 Keeping rural roots alive without leaving the city A great story featuring thoughts of Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson, two sustainable agriculture pioneers… “We came here as poor people on rich land, but now we are rich people on poor land," Jackson...
2011 Land Stewardship News
November 17, 2011 Texas Land Conservation on the rise! A new report by the Land Trust Alliance shows that land conservation by nonprofit land trusts across the United States is thriving, with more than 10 million acres conserved from 2005-2010. According to TLTC Land...
2011 Habitat Conservation News
December 28, 2011 EAA Board Approves Funding Agreement for Habitat Conservation Plan The Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) Board of Directors approved a funding and management agreement on Tuesday, December 28, that details how the EAA will pay for implementing a...
2011 Conservation Easement News
December 29, 2011 Private Lands, Public Benefits: Innovations to Sustain the Private Lands that Provide Food, Fiber and Water Policy In early December, the Texas Agricultural Land Trust and Texas Department of Agriculture hosted Private Lands, Public Benefits in...
2011 Water Quality News
December 28, 2011 Dangers of fracking still becoming clear The word "fracking" may sound funny, but it describes a drilling practice that has created a serious boom in natural gas production in Texas and elsewhere, and with the boom has come serious worries...
2011 Water Planning News
December 29, 2011 The Texas Water Crisis Texas water authorities at every level are on alert. Last summer’s extremely hot, dry weather was a wake-up call. Now more than a dozen Texas towns are in danger of running out of water. Texas is in a water crisis. To make it...
2011 Water Conservation News
September 25, 2011 Water conservation a habit we must keep The current drought eventually will end — we think. But even if rain starts to fall in the next few weeks, the record-setting droughts of 2009 and this year should be reminders that if we're not currently in a...
2011 Rainwater Harvesting News
December 20, 2011 Water a hot topic in Hill Country despite recent rains "Statistics provided by the Texas Water Development Board show that groundwater withdrawal from the Hill Country's Edwards and Trinity aquifers increased dramatically between 1975 and...
2011 Groundwater News
November 16, 2011 Our treasured springs need protection The canary is in the coal mine and he's thirsty. Without thoughtful stewardship, public treasures such as Jacob's Well, Hays County's historic perennial spring, as well as the private legacies of the many unnamed...
2011 Drought News
December 21, 2011 Texas Tree Ring Study Warns of Long Droughts A new study of tree rings adds to evidence that Texas has experienced at least one 10-year drought every 100 years, as well as several "mega-droughts" lasting 15 to 30 years over the centuries. Read...