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Author: Guest contributor

August 7, 2020
Blog Explore Texas Waters Water Conservation

Lockdown Relief and Reflections at Gorman Falls

As part of our ongoing effort to capture the many dimensions of Texan waterscapes, Ellen Larson, an Austin-area high school student and a Summer 2020 Texas Living Waters volunteer, reflects on the beauty and precarity of our favorite summer escapes: As we head into a late Texas summer, sweltering heat coupled with restlessness in our homes has made venturing into the outdoors necessary but somewhat miserable. During this time my family has turned to one thing: Texas parks and their water. The Spicewood Springs Trail in Colorado Bend State Park is filled with inviting swimming spots. Photo: Ellen Larson, 2020. It’s become a tradition every Friday over the past few months for my family and I...

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June 20, 2019
Blog Uncategorized

SWIFT Success Stories: Texas Cities Accelerate Water Conservation Projects with State Funding

By Sapna Mulki, Water Savvy Solutions & Meghan Bock, AIQUEOUS The State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) was passed by the 83rd Texas Legislature and approved by voters via a constitutional amendment in 2013. At the time, Texas was coming off the heels of one of the state’s worst droughts on record. Recognizing the vital role Texas water utilities play in protecting and strengthening Texas water supplies for decades to come, the Texas Legislature moved forward with the adoption of SWIFT to provide enhanced funding for the implementation of projects identified in the Regional and State Water Plans. A core component of the SWIFT legislation was its commitment to allocating at least 20% of...

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June 20, 2019
Blog Uncategorized

It Was Worth It : How A Small Water Utility Successfully Acquired a Loan from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund

By Sapna Mulki, Water Savvy Solutions Background: A small public water system located south of Austin, Texas, Creedmoor Maha Water Supply Corporation (CMWSC) serves an estimated population of 7,500 customers or 2,500 connections in Creedmoor-Maha. Like most Texas water utilities, CMWSC faces increasing pressure from ongoing costs associated with maintaining an aging system. The majority of CMWSC's 170 miles of water lines date back to the 1960's and are therefore reaching the end of their service life. As a result, the system is constantly being fixed for major leaks and pipe bursts, which has become costly and unsustainable - "It was like a whack-a-mole effect," said CMWSC Board President Bennie Bock, "when one [pipe] broke, another...

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May 28, 2019
Blog One Water

Unpave The Parking Lot and Create Paradise: A Story of Headwaters at the Comal River

By Nancy Pappas, Managing Director of New Braunfels Utilities’ Headwaters at the Comal The Beginning Remember the Joni Mitchell song “They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot”?  Well, imagine you are on the Governing Board of the New Braunfels Utility and the staff proposes a plan to parcel off sections of a valuable 16 acres tract of land - once the fleet, facility and operations center for the growing utility - for development.  The mostly asphalt-paved property could bring in a significant amount of short-term funding redeveloped for commercial purposes, however, it also happens to have the neglected and long-forgotten original water source for the New Braunfels community.  What would you recommend? Keep...

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May 28, 2019
Blog One Water

One Water in Action: Wimberley ISD Makes History as First One Water School in Texas

By Anna Huff and Nick Dornak, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University The small Texas towns of Wimberley and Woodcreek are making big waves in the One Water world after the Wimberley Independent School District (WISD) announced their plans to build the first One Water school in Texas. When it opens in fall 2020, the primary school campus will utilize a variety of One Water strategies to reduce groundwater usage from the Trinity Aquifer by 90 percent when compared to traditional construction standards. One Water is a water planning and management approach that rethinks how water moves through and is used in a community; it brings stakeholders like developers,...

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