Austin buying land to protect aquifer
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“The City of Austin plans to buy 611 acres in the heart of the sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, a deal officials are hailing as a major step in protecting water quality in the aquifer and in area springs, including Barton Springs,” reports the Austin American-Statesman. “The 611 -acre parcel has sinkholes, caves and other porous features through which rainwater filters into the Barton Springs portion of the Edwards Aquifer. The aquifer replenishes Barton Springs Pool and is a source of drinking water for rural areas in Travis and Hays counties.”
This part is particularly awesome:
The tract will help weave together 9,000 acres of contiguous, conserved lands in Travis and Hays counties. Along those properties, the city and two nonprofits — the Austin Parks Foundation and Hill Country Conservancy — plan to create the Violet Crown Trail , a 30-plus-mile regional public trail system that will run from Zilker Park to Hays County.
Turning sewage into…Drinking water?
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Faced with a dwindling water supply, a West Texas town has started construction on a $13 million plant to reclaim water from sewage. An Associated Press story in The Washington Post says, “the new system could actually improve the taste of the region’s water by removing the minerals and salt that give it a distinctive briny flavor.”
Here’s how it works:
The wastewater recycling process is long and complex. The first steps remove salt and impurities such as viruses and even traces of medicine. Then the wastewater is channeled into a lake or reservoir, where it’s blended with fresh water and eventually gets pumped into a water-treatment facility. There, it undergoes several more rounds of cleaning, disinfection and testing before finally reaching home faucets.
Tips to conserve energy in peak energy times
I get press releases from the Gov. Rick Perry’s press office, and one came today urging people to conserve energy from 3 to 7 p.m., the peak hours of the day for energy use. In Texas, we’re nearly blowing out our power grid because it’s always scorching outside–even more so than normal nowadays.
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These tips are handy:
- Turn off all unnecessary lights, appliances and electronic equipment.
- When at home, close blinds and drapes on windows that get direct sun, set thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, and use fans in occupied rooms to feel cooler.
- When away from home, set thermostats to 85 degrees, turn off all fans, and close blinds or drapes on windows that will get direct sun.
- Do not use your dishwasher, laundry equipment, hair dryers, coffee makers or other home appliances during the peak hours of 3 to 7 p.m.
- Avoid opening refrigerators or freezers more than necessary.
- Use microwaves for cooking instead of an electric range or oven.
- Set your pool pump to run in the early morning or evening instead of the afternoon.
State climatologist: This drought officially worst on record
“If Texas gets less than four-and-a-half inches of rain in the next two months, 2011 is set to surpass 1956 as the driest 12 months on record,” reports The Texas Tribune. State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon shares equally troubling statistics in this story about the hot, hot temps we’ve experienced. The conditions are the worst in Central Texas!
Sept. brings electric car-charging stations to Austin
Austin says car-charging stations will be ready by September, reports the Austin American-Statesman.
As part of a long-term strategy to displace gasoline-fueled cars, Austin Energy announced on Wednesday that a network of 103 electric-vehicle charging stations would be up and running by September.
The federally funded chargers, such as one at the H-E-B store on Brodie Lane , will be scattered around town, along with the station already in place at the downtown Whole Foods. Austin Energy executives hope the nascent network will help convince potential buyers of electric cars that a trip around town wouldn’t leave them stranded.
Costliest drought
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The drought in Texas is affecting ranchers like never before, reports the Austin American-Statesman.
The current drought is likely to be the costliest in a 12-month span, said David Anderson, a livestock economist with the Texas A&M University’s Agrilife Extension Service. In May, Agrilife reported losses statewide at $1.2 billion. Anderson said an August report will likely tally the cost at three to four times that. The cost of the current drought may be even twice that of the previous most costly drought, which cost $4.1 billion in 2006.
It sounds really terrible.
Also, check out the photos in this Washington Post blog post about the drought.
Rick Perry and the EPA
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The Austin American-Statesman published a story yesterday examining this hypothetical scenario: If Texas Gov. Rick Perry runs for U.S. president and wins, how would he change the Environmental Protection Agency? The reporter answers the hypothecial by looking at Perry’s past comments and stances on environmental issues, as well as Perry’s book, “Fed Up!”
The article says:
From his rhetoric and record as governor, one might think that he’d be tempted to dissolve the agency. He has actively loosened regulations in the name of economic development and denied that scientific consensus exists on climate change, ascribing anxieties about greenhouse gases to a “secular carbon cult.”
But on the campaign trail, he is likely to tell a story about environmental accomplishment. He will point to improvements in air quality in the state’s major cities, and he will note that the state leads the nation in wind power. And he will say that Texas has done it by working with industry, not being its adversary.
Rainwater bottlers in Central Texas?
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Recently I was listening to the radio in my car and a story came on NPR about a new local company that bottles and sells rainwater. I thought to myself: Is there a worst place in the world to set up this business? Possibly sub-Saharan Africa. Texas is facing its worst drought in a long, long time. Almost all of the 254 counties have burn bans right now, and politicians have been calling on the public to “pray for rain.”
A couple of days later, the Austin American-Statesman reported on the new company, Agana Rain Water. Obviously the reporter who wrote this story had the same thought as me, and opened with this line: “Getting into the Central Texas rainwater collection business doesn’t seem like the brightest move in the middle of a drought.” The article explains there are three rainwater harvesting companies in the Austin area; but one of them imports bottled rainwater from Oregon. The owner of the new company is unfazed about our drought:
Relying on simple calculations involving average rainfall and roof square footage, Marc Howell , a co-owner of Agana, cheerfully said his company is in fine shape.
“In a normal year, we’d get 31 inches of rain,” he said. “That’s equal to about 3.5 million gallons of rain, or 24 million bottles (at the Agana collection facility). Even half that much and we’ve got plenty.
I don’t think I would hold my breath for that.
Texas industrial plants re-apply for air permits
“The EPA said Tuesday all 136 industrial plants with state-issued permits that do not meet federal Clean Air Act requirements have agreed to apply for new ones,” reports the Houston Chronicle. The EPA rejected the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s “flexible permits” about a year ago, which elicited debate because Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other officials said “the EPA was threatening jobs by forcing permit changes at the facilities,” the story says.
The story outlines the underlying permitting issue:
The [Texas] permits in question require refineries, chemical plants and other facilities to meet an overall emissions cap but allows them to choose how to do so. Federal rules, however, require plants to limit emissions of certain pollutants from each source within a facility.
The single overall cap, the EPA argues, makes the Texas permits unenforceable and allows plants to emit more than similar facilities in other states. But Texas officials say the system cuts red tape and pollution without violating federal law.
The state and industry groups are challenging the EPA in court. That action is pending.
Millions of peaches, peaches for me … or not
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Texas peach growers experienced a hard season because of drought, wild winter weather, tornadoes and stink bugs. There will still be peaches this summer, but not as many and each fruit will be smaller. There’s a bright side! “The flavor is going to be great. A dry year makes for a tasty peach; there just won’t be quite as many this season,” Jon Green, the extension agent in Parker County, told the newspaper. Ken Halverso Larken Farms in Waxahachie told the Star-Telegram: “They’re really good this year … When you eat a peach here, it’s going to be all over your shirt.”
Yum, yum, get me some!
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