12th August, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
The Edwards Aquifer Authority recently granted $160,000 to various projects to help save water around the Edwards Aquifer, a large groundwater system that stretches from Austin to San Antonio, providing fresh water to 1.7 million people. Seven projects were selected, including toilet replacement programs, high efficiency washing machine rebates, and leak detection surveys. Altogether, these projects could save up to 390 acre-feet of groundwater every year. For more details, check out the Austin Business Journal’s article.
The San Marcos River’s water is supplied by Edwards Aquifer
photo credit
11th August, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Help protect our water! The city is recruiting volunteers to mark storm drains in an effort to remind people not to allow pollutants and trash to go down the drain. To get involved, follow these steps:
30th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
The Statesman had this article today, noting that the Save Our Springs Alliance has sued to stop work on a $500 million water treatment plant. The Save Our Springs Alliance claims that the city of Austin is violating federal law by building the treatment plant before conducting the required environmental studies. Here’s an excerpt:
“They’re building the plant while they’re doing the studies,” said Bill Bunch , Save Our Springs’ executive director. “The regulations are quite clear on this: You can’t take actions that prejudice the outcome (of environmental studies), and deciding to the build the plant first prejudices the outcome.”
City officials say the water treatment plant must be built now and is necessary to ensure that Austin avoids shortages as its population grows. The fight over the plant dates back a quarter century, but in October, a split City Council gave the key approval to proceed….Since the October vote, the city has spent tens of millions of dollars on engineering and preparation of the site, which is off Bullick Hollow Road near the Oasis restaurant.
The article notes that 4 members of city council support building the plant, and 3 oppose it.
Lake Travis
29th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
This Austin Chronicle story reports that “[b]ased on the most up-to-date data, the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) study projects an “extreme” risk of water shortages by 2050 in Travis County. Texas emerged as one of 14 states at the most severe risk of additional water shortages and problems caused by climate change.”
The article continues, “Greg Meszaros, director of Austin Water, suggested a good response to the climate-change study is to take the utility’s 3C Challenge to commit to a 10% reduction in water use (with some help from the city’s water-use calculator at www.waterwiseaustin.org). “Conservation needs to be an everyday value, not just something you do during a drought,” he said. “We need that culture change.”
check out the whole article for more details
15th July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
The city has launched a Water Use Calculator on their website that allows you to see how much water you use daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Just enter in how many times you shower a day, how many loads of laundry you do a week, etc., and it’ll calculate how many gallons you’re using. It’s a little surprising, to say the least! You also have the option to pledge to cut down on water usage by 10%. As the website says, if everyone in our area reduced their water use by 10%, we’d save over 13 million gallons of water per day! By pledging to decrease your water usage, you’ll be helping Austin save this precious resource, and you’ll also be entered into a contest to win a new washer and dryer! If you’re running out of ways to cut back on water, here are 50 suggestions on ways to conserve.
Turn off that faucet!
photo credit
13th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Earlier I posted that beginning July 1, the city of Austin was starting a new water conservation program where city residents can get rebates for converting turf areas to native landscapes/non-irrigation. I found more details about the program:
Check out the application for more details.
1st July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
In March we had posted about TCEQ’s consideration of lowering water quality standards for ”primary contact waters,” which are bodies of water humans use for recreational activities like swimming. This would have meant that some bodies of water previously considered to have levels of E. coli bacteria too high for humans to safely swim in would have been considered safe. The proposed changes were backed by industry and ranchers. However, according to the Texas Tribune, TCEQ decided to vote against the proposed changes. Some environmental groups are not entirely happy with the results, as they fear bodies of water currently deemed primary contact waters will be removed from that classification (even though they may be used for some recreational activities), and thus subject to laxer water quality standards.
30th June, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
According to the Austin Business Journal:
Beginning July [1], residents can apply to be receive up to $30 per 100 square feet to swap grass for native beds and or permeable hardscapes— material that covers the ground, but allows water and oxygen to flow through. This can include stone walkways or patios without mortar, gravel and mulch.
I couldn’t find any more details on the COA webpage yet, but the program doesn’t start until tomorrow.
30th June, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
According to the Statesman, today is the last day Austin residents can buy a low-flow toilet at a retailer and apply for a rebate check from the City of Austin. The rebate program, which included installation and allowed residents to pick out low-flow toilets from any retail store, cost the Austin Water Utility up to $200 per toilet. However, you can still get a free low-flow toilet from a city-contracted vendor if you are willing to pick up the toilet and install it yourself or hire someone to install it. This method only costs the utility $71 per toilet and is still a pretty good deal if you’re willing to put in a little effort. And according to the utility, low-flow toilets use about 63% less water than older toilets, which can add up to great savings on your water bill.
low-flow toilets can be just as fun as conventional toilets, but can save 63% more water!
10th May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
As of May 1, Austin is under Stage 1 Watering Restrictions, which means single family homes can water their yards on only two days per week. Homes with odd addresses may water their yards on Wednesdays and Saturday, and homes with even addresses may water on Thursdays and Sundays. Any watering must be done in the mornings or evenings–watering from 10 am to 7 pm is prohibited. There are no restrictions on hand watering.
While you’re in the water-saving mood, check out this handy website with a summary of all the ways the City of Austin can help you conserve water, including free sprinkler system audits (a $160 value), free high-efficiency toilets and toilet rebates, rebates for high efficiency washing machines (a $150 value), $100 rebates for pressure regulating valves, and rainbarrel and rainwater harvesting system rebates up to $500.
6th May, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
According to the Statesman, city council “will likely vote May 13 to cut Austin’s per-person water use 18 percent by 2020 .” The article also notes that ”Austin now uses about 170 gallons per day per resident . In 2007 , the council approved a plan to cut that number to 149 gallons per day by 2019 . The main change was restricting lawn-watering during spring and summer to twice a week. During summer, lawn watering accounts for 40 to 60 percent of the city’s water use, according to Austin Water Utility estimates. The new goal would put Austin at about 140 gallons per resident in a decade, about what San Antonio uses now.”
Further, “The new goal was spurred by concern about Lake Travis, Austin’s primary water source. After dipping to less than 40 percent full after two years of drought, the lake is now filled after a wet winter and spring. But Austin water officials say the drought-rain cycle of Central Texas could leave the region exposed to shortages during drier times if the city does not focus on conservation.”
Check out the full article for a discussion of the potential costs associated with this new goal.
15th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
TCEQ has proposed new, lower bacteria standards which would remove as many as 62 water bodies from the list of water bodies in Texas currently considered too polluted to fall into the category of “contact recreation waterways,” in which people can swim, wade, etc. TCEQ points out lower standards will save money that is currently spent treating the water to meet the current, higher standards. However, opponents of the proposal say that the new bacteria standards would be the loosest allowed by the EPA. For more information, check out this Statesman article, which notes that “the proposed revisions have the support of dairy farmers and wastewater utilities but are opposed by an environmental group and the City of Austin, which say they would jeopardize health.”
9th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Carsi’s post about the end of the dry spell reminded me that the deadline for public input on LCRA’s water plan for the next 90 years is coming up.
Here are the 3 options proposed, from LRCA’s website:
“Strategy I maximizes the benefits of LCRA’s existing water rights. At a cost of between $3 million and $5 million, it would meet projected firm water demands for at least 50 years, but would not meet firm demands through 2100. It would rely primarily on water from lakes Travis and Buchanan and through amendment of the four downstream water rights now used primarily for irrigation.
Strategy II pairs the benefits of existing water rights with significant conservation effort. At a cost of between $225 million and $525 million over 40 years, it would meet firm water demands to 2100. Aggressive conservation in this strategy would require LCRA to almost double the amount of water savings identified in the current LCRA water conservation plan adopted in the spring of 2009.
Strategy III is the most expensive option, with costs ranging from $721 million to $1.6 billion. It relies on existing water rights, current conservation programs and building one or more new supplies, such as an off-channel reservoir, desalination, aquifer storage and recovery, and groundwater importation.”
The website also notes that the deadline for public input is March 19. You can read more about the proposed options on LCRA’s website and e-mail LCRA your thoughts at watersupply@lcra.org.
9th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
According to this KUT story, Austin is better at water conservation than Dallas and Houston, but “Austin’s per capita water use is still quite high, and its 10-year reduction goal is just moderate.” Click here to read the full water conservation report.
**update – you can read more about the report from this Statesman article as well
9th March, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
There’s sunny weather out there today, and if you’re like me, it’s reminding you that spring is finally here and that the days of enjoying our lakes and springs are just around the corner. Some more good news: the Statesman is reporting today that we are finally out of the two year dry spell that caused so many problems this past summer. Lake levels should be back to normal, just in time for the warm weather.
3rd March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
As reported in the Statesman, Austin’s Water Conservation Implementation Task Force and Austin Water Utility will be hosting a public meeting next Tuesday, March 9th at 6PM to discuss a draft of the “Water Conservation 2020: Strategic Recommendations” report. The proposal would set a of goal of cutting the per capita consumption of water to 140 gallons a day by 2020. The per capita average consumption for Austin for the last 14 years was about 171 gallons a day. To read the draft report, click here. The Task Force will be listening to public input before finalizing its report for presentation to City Council, so if you have views on water conservation, try to attend the meeting or call the Austin Water Conservation Division at 974-2199.
25th February, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Austin Water Utility has recieved $31.8 million in federal funds to reduce the environmental impact of its’ Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant, which is where, among other things, Austin’s sewage and yard trimmings are recycled to produce Dillo Dirt compost. As reported in the Austin Chronicle, AWU projects that with the federal funds, it can reduce its’ annual carbon footprint by 6,500 tons of greenhouse gases. The article notes that the project will also increase production of bio-gas to produce electricity.
22nd February, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
and that’s a good thing! Drink from the tap people!
16th February, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
The Lower Colorado River Authority has written a plan for managing the water around Austin for the next 90 years and is asking for public comment. You can read their plan and provide your comments here or attend one of the public meetings listed below:
Tuesday, Feb. 23: open house 5:30 p.m.; discussion 6-8 p.m. El Campo Civic Center 2350 N. Mechanic St. (State Highway 71) El Campo, Texas 77437
Thursday, Feb. 25: open house 5:30 p.m.; discussion 6-8 p.m. Burnet Community Center 401 E. Jackson St. Burnet, Texas 78611
Monday, March 8: open house 6 p.m.; discussion 6:30-8:30 p.m. Austin – LCRA Service Center 3505 Montopolis Drive, Building A Austin, Texas 78744
