The latest water supply news from The Texas Tribune.
The drought and extreme heat are taking their toll on school districts across Texas. Costly problems include cracks in building foundations, increased maintenance costs and loss of vegetation. Full Story
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If the drought continues well into next spring and summer, the electric grid could lose "potentially several thousand megawatts," according to an ERCOT official. That's roughly equivalent to several coal plants. Full Story
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Amidst a record-setting drought and neighborhood-devouring wildfires, we asked the insiders this week about water and fire policy. Full Story
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Fearing that this drought could reduce lake levels lower than ever before, the Lower Colorado River Authority's board will meet next week to discuss reducing or ending its water sales to downriver farmers next year. Full Story
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Odessa, running seriously low on water, is looking to the example set in El Paso, a desert city that has poured money into a desalination plant and invested in conservation. Full Story
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At a hearing today, power companies and state agencies slammed the Environmental Protection Agency over a measure aimed at reducing emissions from power plants in 27 states, including Texas. Full Story
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As the worst one-year drought in Texas history wears on, officials at some military installations around the state have banned the use of tracer fire and other pyrotechnics. Full Story
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Over the past year, Texas has battled wildfires that cover an area larger than the state of Connecticut. It's straining the budgets of both state and local firefighting units, and as the prospect of a multiyear drought looms, wildfire season is in no way over. Full Story
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Christi Craddick, daughter of former House speaker and current state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, on why she wants to run for the Texas Railroad Commission, whether her dad's politics will get in the way, and why the oil and gas industry needs her as a regulator. Full Story
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The Texas commissioner of agriculture on the "catastrophic" devastation he's seen from the worst one-year drought in recorded Texas history, what the feds and state are doing and what needs to happen to cope with a potential multiyear drought. Full Story
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As the Central Texas utility struggles to retain electric customers, its new general manager, Becky Motal, announced that four senior positions have been eliminated and said staff reductions "may be necessary." Full Story
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A number of cities are making more money than usual from selling water this year because people are using more water to compensate for the lack of rain. But rates in many places are going up, to fix broken pipes and fund new supplies. Full Story
Are the drought and record heat due to climate change? Scientists hedge, especially on the drought question, but there's no question it's been getting hotter in Texas — and it's going to continue to do so. Full Story
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Forests of enormous electric wind turbines now rise across West Texas — a far cry from the smaller, water-pumping windmills that covered the land a century ago. In Lubbock, a museum called the American Wind Power Center traces this change, juxtaposing old and new. Full Story
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With Texas facing dramatic population growth and constraints on its water supplies, interest in the use of sewage — or "reclaimed water," as those in the industry prefer to call it — to provide for a variety of water needs is growing. Full Story
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Ramshaw on the lioness of the Texas House, Dehn and Tan review 20 years of Rick Perry's political ads, Murphy's latest database includes the governor's political accounts over the last decade, Aaronson's visualizations of what was said in the biggest legislative debates, M. Smith on the woman in the middle chair at the State Board of Education, Galbraith on how the drought is forcing ranchers to sell their herds, Grissom has the story on a cattle rustler who's asking the courts to give him an old-fashioned sentence, Hamilton covers Rick O'Donnell's latest salvo at higher education, Aguilar on whether and how the sanctuary cities issue will translate at the ballot box next year, yours truly on Ron Paul's candidacy and the candidate in his own words: The best of our best from July 18 to 22, 2011. Full Story
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The third-worst drought in Texas history has made it hard for ranchers to find hay, and sometimes water, for their cattle. So they are selling them off — and finding eager buyers from rainier states like South Dakota. Full Story
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This week, Secretary of State Hope Andrade conducted a lottery that determined the order of the 10 new proposals on the November ballot. Each amendment already won approval from two-thirds of the House and Senate and now needs a nod from a majority of the voters. Here's the rundown... Full Story
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The Texas drought is already a significant natural disaster. What can the government do to help those who are hit hardest? Full Story
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Aguilar on a change in law that affects applications for state-issued IDs, Galbraith on how the drought is taking its toll on wildlife, Hamilton on an outsider's attempt to lower the cost of higher ed, Murphy visualizes the partisanship of House members, Ramsey on who becomes Lite Guv if David Dewhurst takes another job, Ramshaw on life in the colonias and three stories about Rick Perry — Grissom on how his death penalty stance might play in a 2012 presidential race, Root on how he cemented his reputation as one of the state's most powerful governors and Tan on the growing demand for him to speak elsewhere: The best of our best content from July 4 to July 8, 2011. Full Story
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