Water experts urgently call for funding to address threats to Texas infrastructure
Experts talked about how and where the state can best invest money to keep Texas water safely flowing to the public. Full Story
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Texas has the fifth-highest percentage of water pipes made of lead
In a first-of-its-kind survey of public water utilities, the EPA estimates that 7% of water lines in Texas, more than 647,000, are lead based. It’s the fifth-highest proportion of lead-based water lines in the country. Full Story
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![A dripping faucet on Feb. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate moves to set aside billions for future water needs
The Senate on Monday passed a bill that would create a new state fund tailored for large or long-shot water supply projects, including marine desalination. The bill will advance to the House. Full Story
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![A large crack runs the length of a broken water main pipe after City of Odessa Water Distribution employees work to repair the broken line Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa. According to Mayor of Odessa Javier Joven, the line has been fixed since around 3:45 a.m. and the system is beginning to pressurize slowly.]()
Credit: Courtesy Odessa American/Eli Hartman -
Texas Senate takes first step toward establishing billions for state’s water supply, infrastructure
Voters would have the final say on whether the state sets aside billions of dollars to acquire new water sources and invest in aging infrastructure. Full Story
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![City of Zavalla Water Well #1 in Zavalla, Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023.]()
Credit: Joseph Bui for The Texas Tribune -
How a fading West Texas town has gone four years without safe drinking water
Some Toyah residents say state regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were “negligent” and want to know what took so long. The Texas attorney general has filed a lawsuit. Full Story
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![The Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Texas Law School conducted water testing at houses in Toyah in Feburary 2023.]()
Credit: Mitch Borden/Marfa Public Radio -
Black and Hispanic Texans say they don’t trust the quality of their water
A survey was commissioned by the nonprofit organization Texas Water Trade and included responses from households in both rural border communities and in urban areas across Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Full Story
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![A portable water tank at a colonia at Las Pampas, on Oct. 21, 2014.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
A new bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers wants to highlight the state’s fragile water infrastructure
So far there has been an average of six boil-water notices a day across Texas in 2023. Full Story
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![Volunteers unload water during a water distribution and free flu vaccination event at the Holman Street Baptist Church in Houston on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Midland is the latest Texas city to issue a boil-water notice
Officials said the water levels at the local reservoir were too low to meet safety standards. Full Story
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![A water tower at the Midland International Air & Space Port on Jan. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
A boil-water notice in Houston made national news. In rural Texas, it’s a way of life.
Rural communities face compounding reasons they can’t improve their water infrastructure, including inflation and a lack of human resources. Full Story
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![David Wilshusen, 69, stands outside his home in Houston County, Texas on on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. (Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Houston officials say state made the call on water boil notice
For more than 24 hours, nearly everyone in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city had been asked to boil water after a power outage at a water treatment plant Sunday. Full Story
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![Isaiah Chirip helps push a pallet of bottled water during a water distribution and free flu vaccination event at the Holman Street Baptist Church in Houston on nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Houstonians say the city fumbled sounding the alarm on boil water notice
Many residents in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city heard that they couldn’t drink tap water from friends or neighbors, not from City Hall. Full Story
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![Eboni Davis and her boyfriend Jesse Holloway load water into their car outside an H-E-B grocery store in Houston on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Houston boil water notice forces schools to shut down
Millions of Houston residents are expected to be under a boil water notice until Tuesday after a power outage at a water treatment plant. At least four school districts canceled Monday classes. Full Story
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![A notice that customers are limited to two cases of water at a Houston HEB on Nov. 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
An East Texas town must boil its water on Thanksgiving as officials seek a solution to aging infrastructure
Zavalla lost all water for several days. The Texas Department of Emergency Management has sent pallets of bottled water and a team to help. Full Story
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![An Ector Count resident, who declined to give their name, loads their car with cases of bottled water after the majority of Ector County was placed on a boil water notice early Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa, Texas. The resident and their partner, who also declined to give their name, stated that they had been without water since approximately 7 p.m. Monday evening. “I know I payed my water bill” one said when they were attempting to determine why they did not have any running water.]()
Credit: Courtesy Odessa American/Eli Hartman -
Texas’ plan to provide water for a growing population virtually ignores climate change
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. Full Story
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![Concerned residents Lindy Guest, 68, left, John Brooks, 74, center, and Jim Vignali, 70, far-right, look at a map of Red River County where the Marvin Nichols Reservoir will be located, at Cuthand United Methodist Church in Bogata, Texas, on July 26, 2022. The reservoir has been in the works for decades, but never gained momentum to start. Residents now fear a starting date is near as Texas droughts worsen, and water supply needs in the DFW metro area rapidly increase. Thousands of acres will be flooded and an estimated 60 homes will be lost.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune -
To save water in Texas, these nonprofits are paying farmers to leave it in reservoirs
As Texas continues to battle drought, groups are trying a market-based solution to help farmers and protect what little water is left. Full Story
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![Water marks are seen on the dam gates and concrete at the Falcon Dam in Starr County on Aug. 18, 2022. This area of the reservoir is normally under water, but because of an extended drought, water levels have been below 20% full since earlier this year. The Falcon Dam was dedicated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mexican President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines in 1953.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
EPA may try to block what could be the first seawater desalination plant built in Texas
Citing water quality concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency may refuse to recognize a permit that Texas approved Thursday for a marine desalination plant at the Port of Corpus Christi. Full Story
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![The inside of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant in El Paso on April 16, 2012.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott declares Dallas-Fort Worth deluge a disaster, freeing up state resources to help in recovery
The declaration covers 23 counties across the state and comes after some saw more than 10 inches of rainfall Monday. Full Story
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![Gov. Abbott gets briefing from members of the Texas Emergency Management Council on the flash floods and excessive rain across the state at the Texas State Emergency Operations Center in Austin on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022.]()
Credit: State government website -
After decades of broken promises, a Texas “donut hole” community will get running water
Construction began in July to bring water to Cochran, one of several colonias along the border not served by public water systems. The project is expected to be completed by October. Full Story
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![a home in the Cochran colonia.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel/DigDeep -
“A perfect storm”: Drought, extreme heat and two faulty wells threaten a North Texas town’s water supply
“We’re on the brink. We’re teetering. It’s a balancing act. It’s a 50/50 proposition,” said Gunter City Manager Rick Chaffin. Full Story
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![Gunter is a small town about 50 miles north of Dallas.]()
Credit: City of Gunter website -
The Odessa water outage underscores a growing problem: Aging pipes in Texas cities are getting more fragile
Texas had 3,866 water boil notices in 2021, the most in the last decade. Aging water systems threaten water supply and quality — and for many small towns across the state, they won’t be cheap to repair. Full Story
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![Lightning from a passing storm strikes in the vicinity as City of Odessa Water Distribution employees work through the night to repair a broken water main Tuesday, June 14, 2022 in Odessa. According to Mayor of Odessa Javier Joven, repairs were completed around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune