TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD

Rural communities face compounding reasons they can’t improve their water infrastructure, including inflation and a lack of human resources.

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.

Rain is in the forecast across much of the state. But it won’t be enough to reverse the drought that has gripped Texas since last fall.

Hundreds of wildfires have broken out this spring. More than a dozen areas are under voluntary or mandatory water use restrictions, and more than 200 Texas counties have been designated as crop disaster areas.

Rural Texas was meant to get 10% of state bonds for water projects. A report shows it’s getting less than 1%.

Rural Texas communities often don’t have the resources, technical experience, or ability to take on large amounts of debt to pursue state funds for water supply and quality projects. So, many simply don’t apply.

By Big Bend SentinelEL PASO – If you live in West Texas and have experienced flooding at your home or business, the Upper Rio Grande Regional Flood Planning Group (URGRFPG) wants to hear from you. As part of the Texas Water Development Board’s statewide flood planning process, the Rio Grande Council of Governments has sponsored the URGRFPG to ensure West Texans from across the 23-county area have a voice in helping the state prioritize flood control projects. The ongoing Upper Rio Grande (Region 14) Flood Plan is identifying and evaluating projects to mitigate flooding for people, property and businesses across the region. Going forward, only the projects listed in the 2023 State Flood Plan will be eligible for funding support through TWDB’s Flood Infrastructure Fund. Here’s How You Can Get Involved:

Despite it not being well known in Dallas-Fort Worth, Northeast Texans have been battling the Marvin Nichols Reservoir for the better part of two decades.

Local and state leaders gathered here Thursday morning to celebrate the opening of a $13 million wastewater and sewage treatment plant that will service eight colonias in the Mid-Valley.

Local and state leaders gathered here Thursday morning to celebrate the opening of a $13 million wastewater and sewage treatment plant that will service eight colonias in the Mid-Valley.

The study will cover Agua Dulce Creek, Petronila Creek, Alazan Bay/Baffin Bay and Oso Creek.

Across the Rio Grande Valley, many residents cringe when they remember the sudden June storm gushing into homes across much of the area nearly three years ago.

Allie Goulding/The Texas TribuneSign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. This problem will be particularly pronounced for Dallas, which relies entirely on surface water for its water supply, the study says. Allie Goulding/The Texas TribuneCattle on a ranch on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 in Gonzales. Allie Goulding/The Texas TribuneCattle on a ranch in Gonzales. Legislators can basically impress upon various river authorities and municipal water suppliers that certain types of water projects like surface water reservoirs are not going to be the answer to our future of water during megadroughts because those surface water reservoirs lose a lot of water to evaporation, he said.

On Oct. 3, the Texas Water Development Board rejected an appeal from Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District concerning its groundwater management plan, which was rejected by the state agency in May. The District is appreciative to the TWDB for hearing its points of appeal this morning, LSGCD General Manager Samantha Reiter said in an email. Desired future conditions are long-term goals that dictate aquifer conditions for more than 50 years. According to the SJRA release, water utilities and agencies, including itself, the Woodlands Water Agency and several governmental entities, urged TWDB to reject the original proposed management plan. Aquifer overuse has real consequences like land subsidence and water reliability problems, SJRA General Manager Jace Houston said in the release.

The Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District has announced that an appeal it requested from the Texas Water Development Board about a management plan will be heard Oct. 3. According to a press release from LSGCD, TWDBs executive administrator previously determined the Districts management plan was not complete because the plan did not include the desired future conditions set via joint planning in 2010. The press release defines desired future conditions as long-term goals that dictate aquifer conditions more than 50 years into the future. Before filing the appeal, the District attempted to resolve the dispute through correspondence with a pre-review submission to TWDB, the press release stated. The press release states future actions may include mediation and/or the filing of a suit in Travis County.