Reporting on Texas water -- drought and supply, reservoirs and groundwater, utility infrastructure, conservation rules, and the growing competition for a finite resource.
Texas oil and gas wells throw off roughly 26 million barrels of salty wastewater a day, and operators pump nearly 30 million barrels a day back underground.
Corpus Christi can continue holding back the fresh water it owes Nueces Bay until its reservoirs are half full, Texas environmental regulators decided Sept. 9, affirming a drought emergency order without changing a word.
One of the largest single data-center projects yet planned in Texas is approaching an operational milestone in a rural county west of Fort Worth.
The Texas Water Development Board launched a statewide public awareness campaign aimed at helping Texans better understand where their water comes from, how much water their communities will need in the future, and the infrastructure required to maintain long-term water security.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Coastal Fisheries Division marked the 20th anniversary of its Groundwater to the Gulf program this year, bringing 30 educators from Austin to the Texas coast for a hands-on institute on water science.
Texas is preparing to spend up to $20 billion on water over the next two decades.
In much of Texas, a data center can sink a well and pump as much groundwater as it wants, and no state agency is empowered to stop it.
Organizers in Northeast El Paso have filed a formal notice to recall City Representative Cynthia Boyar Trejo.
A statewide rate increase sought by one of the largest private water utilities in Texas is advancing toward a negotiated settlement that does not include the customers who filed thousands of formal protests.
Texas Natural Resources Committee will review the Texas Water Development Board's stewardship of the newly funded water program and weigh data-center water use — the only charge open to public testimony.When: 10:00 AM, Tuesday, June 23, 2026Where: Room E2.036, Capitol Extension, AustinChair: Rep. Cody Harris, R–Palestine (HD-8)Vice Chair: Rep. Armando Martinez, D–Weslaco (HD-39)Format: Invited testimony only on three charges; invited and public testimony on the data-center chargeLive video: house.texas.gov/video-audio/Submit comments online: comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c390 (written comments accepted until the hearing adjourns) The Texas House Committee on Natural Resources will convene at 10 a.m. Tuesday to examine how the state is standing up its newly supercharged water fund and to confront a fast-growing strain on Texas water supplies: data centers.
Texas volunteers removed 48,952 pounds of trash—nearly 24 tons—from beaches stretching between Sea Rim State Park and Boca Chica on April 18, 2026, according to a Texas General Land Office report.
The reservoir providing drinking water to five Texas Panhandle communities has dropped to approximately 6% of capacity, the lowest level documented since the lake began impounding water in the late 1960s.
Texas environmental regulators are evaluating an application to renew a permit that would authorize Lennar Homes to discharge up to 300,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day into a tributary feeding Canyon Lake.
Texas beach volunteers removed more than 8,000 pounds of trash from the Coastal Bend and South Padre Island during the initial cleanups of 2026, according to the General Land Office.