water supply

Voters to Decide City Elections, Amendments

By Lara Lapin Nov. 8, 2011

It's Election Day, and voters across the state will decide whether to add 10 amendments to the Texas Constitution. Voters in several cities also will be picking mayors and city council members. Full Story

Credit: Amy Qualls-McClure
Amid Drought, McCaul's Water Use Raises Eyebrows

By Kate Galbraith Nov. 3, 2011

Over 12 months of the worst drought in recorded Texas history, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul was Austin's sixth-largest water user. It's a disappointing record, critics say, at a time when many Texas leaders are urgently calling for conservation. Full Story

Credit: Muliadi Soenaryo
Dropping Lake Levels Mean Rising Water Quality Issues

By Lara Lapin Nov. 1, 2011

As lake and river levels continue to drop due to the intense 13-month drought, concerns about water quality are growing across Texas. It's an issue that affects fish — and humans. Full Story

Credit: Earl Nottingham/Texas Parks & Wildlife
Video: Windmillers at Work

By Kate Galbraith, The Texas Tribune, and Axel Gerdau, KUT News Oct. 28, 2011

A windmill company based in San Angelo has been making windmills since 1888 — and the family of Panhandle windmiller Mike Crowell has been in the business of fixing the machines nearly as long. Full Story
In the Panhandle, the Dying Art of Windmilling Hangs On — For Now

By Kate Galbraith Oct. 28, 2011

Thousands of windmills still exist in remote Texas pastures, pumping water from aquifers for cattle to drink. But the dwinding group of men who sell and fix windmills face hard times due to the drought and competition from solar pumps. Full Story

Credit: Axel Gerdau
SLIDESHOW: Texas Windmills — and Windmillers

By Axel Gerdau, KUT News Oct. 28, 2011

Windmilling — the art of fixing old water windmills — is difficult and dangerous work, and now it faces competition from solar pumps. But long-time windmillers in the Panhandle wouldn't trade their job for any other. Full Story

Credit: Axel Gerdau
Drought's Economic Impact Spreading From Rural to Urban Areas

By Kate Galbraith and Kiah Collier Oct. 27, 2011

Despite the record dry stretch, most Texans are still far from running out of water. But the drought's economic impact is beginning to extend beyond agriculture and into tourism, real estate and other staples of urban economies. Full Story

Credit: Molly Jade
Prop 2 Would Help Fund Water-Supply Projects

By Erika Aguilar, KUT News Oct. 26, 2011

On Nov. 8, Texans will vote on 10 constitutional amendments. Erika Aguilar of KUT News has a look at Proposition 2, which would allow the state to issue up to $6 billion in bonds for water infrastructure projects across Texas. Full Story

Credit: JD Hancock
Ballot Initiative Would Improve Water, Lower Property Taxes

By Ari Auber Oct. 25, 2011

An amendment to the Texas Constitution on the ballot next month will lower property taxes for landowners who practice good water stewardship. It received unanimous backing in the Legislature. Full Story

Credit: Gary Nored / Texas Parks and Wildlife
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

By Ross Ramsey Oct. 22, 2011

Hamilton on efforts to boost faculty productivity, Grissom on newly uncovered evidence in an old murder case, Galbraith on a wind-powered construction boom, Dehn unfurls the new Texas Tribune Weekend Insider, Aguilar on this year's record number of deportations, Ramshaw and Tan on budget cuts and cervical cancer screenings, M. Smith on local control over student grades, Root and Ramshaw on Rick Perry's latest debate performance, Philpott on an issue that didn't get its due in that debate and Titus and Murphy on fundraising and spending in congressional races: The best of our best content from October 17 to 21, 2011. Full Story

Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman
New Federal Forecast Says Drought Likely to Worsen Over Winter

By Kate Galbraith Oct. 20, 2011

While already-sodden northern regions of the United States can prepare for above-average rains this winter, the worst one-year drought in Texas history looks set to persist, according to a federal winter forecast released today. Full Story

Credit: AgriLife Today / Kay Ledbetter
Parched Western States Looking to Perry's Water Record

By Ben Philpott, KUT News Oct. 20, 2011

You won't hear about the water problems out West during the GOP presidential debate, but as Ben Philpott reports for KUT News and the Texas Tribune, the problems are there — and the next President could play a role in the solutions. Full Story

Credit: Ben Philpott
Dewhurst Tells Senate Committees to Study Drought, Wildfires

By Kate Galbraith Oct. 18, 2011

State Senate committees will soon begin studying the impact of drought on power generation, agriculture and the economy, along with how to improve Texas' response to wildfires, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced today. Full Story

Credit: Bob Daemmrich
More Bad Drought News: End Not in Sight

By Claire Cardona Oct. 18, 2011

The town of Junction recently endured a six-week ban on outdoor watering, during which residents sometimes used bathwater to water lawns. With the prospect of drought becoming a way of life, Junction is searching for solutions. Full Story

Credit: Kurt Kemp, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Carolyn Brittin: The TT Interview

By Kate Galbraith Oct. 11, 2011

The deputy executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board on overseeing the 295-page water plan, what the state should spend to fully ensure it has adequate water supplies and what scares her about the future. Full Story

Credit: Todd Wiseman
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

By Ross Ramsey Oct. 8, 2011

Murphy, Ramshaw and Root on Rick Perry and race, Philpott on Perry's vague economic plans, Tan and Wiseman on Barack Obama's foray into Texas to defend his jobs plan, Aguilar on Perry's proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico, Ramshaw on efforts to leash rising health care costs, M. Smith on upcoming legal challenges to the state's school finance system, Aaronson interactively explores Medicare spending proposals, Galbraith on efforts to pass — and to oppose — a $6 billion water program, Grissom on the release of a man wrongly convicted of murder and Hamilton on efforts to let the public write some legislation: The best of our best content from October 3 to 7, 2011. Full Story

Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman
Business Groups Back Water Ballot Measure

By Kate Galbraith Oct. 5, 2011

Next month, Texans will go to the polls to decide whether to authorize $6 billion in bonding authority dedicated to building and fixing water infrastructure. But some conservatives and Tea Party members have concerns about the measure. Full Story

Credit: Robert W. Hart
Draft Water Plan: Texas "Will Not Have Enough"

By Kate Galbraith Sept. 27, 2011

The Texas Water Development Board's just-released 295-page report says that if Texas does not spend tens of billions more on water infrastructure, a drought as bad as that of the 1950s could cost Texans $116 billion per year by 2060. Full Story

Credit: AgriLife Today / Kay Ledbetter
Katharine Hayhoe: The TT Interview

By Kate Galbraith Sept. 22, 2011

The Texas Tech climate scientist and author of A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions on why why working in Texas, a state full of both prominent climate skeptics and extreme weather, is an "opportunity." Full Story
LCRA Approves Emergency Drought Plan, Which Will Hurt Farmers

By Kate Galbraith Sept. 21, 2011

At a board meeting on Wednesday, the Lower Colorado River Authority approved an emergency plan that could cut off water supplies to downriver rice farmers entirely next year if the drought worsens. Full Story

Credit: Michael Stravato