(May 14, 2009, The Dallas Observer)
As mentioned Monday, KERA-FM (90.1) is running throughout this week a series of stories about where Dallas gets its water and how we use it. Which brings us to today’s contribution from B.J. Austin concerning water consumption. Says the story, the average Dallas homeowner is billed for 100,000 gallons used [...]
(April 27, 2009, The San Antonio Business Journal)
The Edwards Aquifer Authority has officially declared a drought for the San Antonio region, requiring groundwater permit holders to reduce consumption by 20 percent for at least the next 30 days.
The mandatory Stage I drought restriction applies to all Edwards Aquifer water users served by the San Antonio [...]
(April 21, 2009, The Wall Street Journal)
A severe drought gripping Texas is causing unusually salty conditions along the Gulf Coast, upsetting the region’s ecological balance and threatening coastal wildlife including oysters, crabs and whooping cranes, the most endangered crane species.
The drought is one of the driest on record for Texas and is currently the worst [...]
(March 2, 2009, The Houston Chronicle)
Water bills in Houston are poised to go up about $2.26 a month for an average homeowner under a plan City Council is expected to begin weighing today.
Under procedures put in place after 2004 – when water bills went up as high as 10 percent for many residents – rates [...]
(Feb. 18, 2009, The Dallas Morning News)
Plano water and sewer customers should expect rates to rise by an average of 16 percent starting next month.
The increases, the fifth round of hikes since spring 2006, will help pay for more expensive treatment, pumping and expansion costs in [...]
(Nov. 18, 2008, PerthNow)
HOUSEHOLDERS would be charged for each flush under a radical new toilet tax designed to help beat the drought.
The scheme would replace the current system, which sees sewage charges based on a home’s value – not its waste water output.
CSIRO Policy and Economic Research Unit member Jim McColl and Adelaide University Water [...]
(Feb. 14, 2009, The Houston Chronicle)
LUBBOCK, Texas — Reliable sources of clean water are the key to a successful economic future for Texas and without them the state and businesses could suffer billions in losses.
That was the dire message in a recent report from the office of state comptroller Susan Combs, a longtime West [...]
(Feb. 11, 2009, The Star-Telegram)
As Texas’ population explodes, new residential, commercial and industrial development is rampant. The state is far more urbanized, and continued dramatic growth is expected in coming decades.
That’s putting unprecedented environmental pressures on one of the state’s most-precious resources: its many rivers, creeks, bays and estuaries. These flowing bodies provide critical water [...]
(Feb. 8, 2009, The Dallas Morning News)
Scant rainfall. Shrinking reservoirs. Thirsty soil. Across North Texas, another dry spell is settling in.
Some two years after rains ended a prolonged and brutal drought, the Dallas area is back in D-land – and the situation is likely to persist if not worsen in the months ahead, climate scientists [...]
(Jan. 30, 2009, Planetizen)
Cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are working together to save water and use reclaimed water for non-drinking purposes.
“The Arlington City Council is expected to consider joining a regional partnership next month that would use reclaimed water from the Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant at the Ditto Golf Course, J.W. Dunlop Sports [...]
(Jan. 19, 2009, EcoLocalizer)
It feels like you can’t check the news lately without hearing about another area coping with severe drought. Here in Atlanta, we’ve been dealing with a water shortage for years, as have folks in California.
Texas is in a worsening drought situation, too, which is leading to cattle deaths. There’s no grass [...]
(Jan. 17, 2009, MySanAntonio)
With no one predicting an end to the record drought gripping Central Texas, area water officials are urging residents to conserve water now so maybe drought restrictions later won’t be so bad.
They asked residents Friday to shut off automatic irrigation systems and start turning them on only as needed, probably little more [...]
(Jan. 14, 2009, Star-Telegram)
More than a decade ago, Texas kicked off an ambitious and comprehensive program to guarantee that the state’s urban and rural regions would have the water supplies they needed through 2050.
Much good work has been done under the framework established by 1997’s Senate Bill 1, but Texas still faces alarming trends when [...]
(Jan. 12, 2009, The Dallas Morning News)
State-mandated regulations on sprinklers aim to conserve water but also could lead to a dramatic spike in the cost of new systems.
Some in the industry say that, long-term, the new regulations should benefit irrigation installers and property owners. But the higher costs and slower turnaround time could hurt them, [...]
(Jan. 10, 2009, Star-Telegram)
As North Texas continues to grow and develop, water conservation becomes a crucial issue. In businesses, water conservation practices include low-flush toilets and automatic faucets. In homes, there are low-flush toilets and water-efficient dish and clothes washers and shower heads. Landscapes are the other big water user. A landscape can use 35 [...]
(Jan. 7, 2009, Houston Chronicle)
The state’s first attempt at purifying salty seawater sucked from the Gulf of Mexico yielded two lessons: adding the gulf to the state’s mix of water resources is technically feasible, but at least for now too expensive on a large scale.
Data gleaned from the 18-month pilot project on the Brownsville ship [...]
(Oct. 25, 2008, The Houston Chronicle)
TULSA, Okla. — The Dallas City Council has approved an agreement with other north Texas entities to pressure the state of Oklahoma into selling them water.
The council has joined forces with the Tarrant Regional Water District, which is suing Oklahoma over a moratorium passed by the Legislature that bars the [...]
(Oct. 10, 2008, Austin Business Journal)
National infrastructure firm PBS&J plans to aggressively tap into the estimated $173 billion Texas water development market with a team of well-known experts.
There is the growing awareness you need to focus on the whole hydrologic cycle of water. It rains, you capture it, store it, use it and treat it. [...]
