January 2017 – Welcome to Hill Country Alliance

Astronomers Encourage Cities to Shield Outdoor Lighting

January 30, 2017
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News, Night Skies

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way -- that iconic stream of stars coursing across the night sky -- cannot be seen by one-third of humanity and 80 percent of Americans. As the artificial glow from towns and cities increases every year, and starry nights become unfamiliar to many, astronomers and dark-sky advocates are pushing to reduce light pollution -- starting with changes to outdoor lighting. The American Astronomical Society passed a resolution at their annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas this…

Chronic wasting disease found for first time in wild Texas white-tail deer

January 28, 2017
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News, Wildlife

State wildlife officials are restricting the transport of live and dead white-tailed deer and requiring sampling of carcasses after the discovery of a fatal disease in a free-ranging deer this week. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Tuesday identified chronic wasting disease in a 1 1/2-year-old buck harvested in Medina County west of San Antonio, the first wild individual of its species to be found with the disease in Texas. The hunter brought the carcass into a voluntary state…

TWDB approves $1,961,821 to City Of San Marcos for flood mitigation project

January 26, 2017
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News

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved by resolution financial assistance in the amount of $1,961,821 consisting of a $1,000,000 loan and $961,821 in loan forgiveness, from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to the City of San Marcos (Hays County). The City will use the assistance to finance a flood mitigation project. The City could save approximately $147,000 over the life of the loan by using the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. With the assistance approved today, the…

Texas Water Symposium planned for February 23 in San Marcos: Watershed Protection Plans: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Waterways at a Community Scale

The third Texas Water Symposium of the 2016-2017 season has been set for 7pm on Thursday, February 23rd at Texas State University Student Center LBJ Teaching Theater in San Marcos, Texas. The Texas Water Symposium is free and open to the public. With the population of Central Texas expected to double in the next thirty years and many Hill Country communities already growing at incredible rates, we are seeing an increasing threat to the health of our water resources. Local…

Citing water conference fee, group claims state open meeting violation

January 23, 2017
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News

The Texas Water Development Board, a state agency that plays a key role in financing reservoirs, pipelines and conservation projects, wants anyone with an interest in water planning to attend its Water for Texas conference in Austin this week. The registration fee for the public: $525. That cost has led a government watchdog group to cry foul, saying the fee amount locks out members of the public and amounts to a violation of state open meetings laws. In a letter…

In West Texas, abandoned well sinks land, sucks tax dollars

January 22, 2017
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News

Land around a West Texas roadway used to be flat. Now, it’s fissured, sinking and has cost taxpayers more than a million dollars — all because of a water well that was left unplugged. The rusty pipe poking up from desert scrubland just south of Imperial would be easy to miss if you didn't know it was there. But the once-forgotten water well — a reminder of ranch life here decades ago — has developed an almost magical power: No matter…

Commentary: No One Gets Everything They Want in A Good City Bond

January 22, 2017
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News

Leave it to former Mayor Phil Hardberger to summon a passage from the Book of Proverbs in support of the $850 million 2017 Municipal Bond and, in particular, the $13 million in public funding for the proposed $23 million Hardberger Land Bridge. We will see if voters agree when they go to the polls on May 6 this year to elect a mayor and city council members, and to vote on six different bond initiatives that together represent an unprecedented public…

Landowners, Aquifer Alliance win battle over TCEQ permit

January 19, 2017
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News, Water Planning

Landowners in Comal County took a victory Tuesday in a long-running case against a state agency’s permit allowing a subdivision next door to release treated wastewater onto area land. The plaintiffs, including landowners and the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, have argued Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved a discharge permit that should not have been issued, and the treated wastewater poses a risk to the sensitive Edwards Aquifer, according to court records. The landowners and GEAA sued TCEQ in Travis…

Protecting the drops we drink: Who owns Texas water?

January 19, 2017
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Groundwater Resources, News

This post from The Eagle, a Bryan-College Station paper, covers some of the fundamentals of water management and ownership in the state of Texas. As you can see, it gets complicated, fast. Even more complicated when you consider that all three types of water discussed-surface water, diffused surface water and groundwater-are actually connected in one water cycle. We couldn’t agree more with the author’s opening statement: “As Texas population continues to increase, so will demands for water. The answer to…

Charles Butt Invests $100 Million in New Education Leadership Institute

January 18, 2017
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News

A group of education leaders that includes Ruth Simmons, the first African- American president of an Ivy League university, gathered in Austin Tuesday morning to announce the establishment of the Holdsworth Center for Excellence in Education Leadership. The public education leadership institute was founded by Charles Butt, the chairman and CEO of H-E-B, who has pledged $100 million of his personal wealth to support the endeavor. The center is named after his mother, Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt (1903-93), a prominent Texas…