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Austin asks TCEQ to change wastewater rules

On Tuesday, the city of Austin formally asked the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for help in correcting an uptick in permits that allow direct discharge of effluent into the region’s lakes, creeks and streams. In Texas, treated wastewater can…

LCRA releases new plan to conserve water

Water is about to get more expensive for rice farmers in the Lower Colorado River Basin. That message appears to be the gist of the Lower Colorado River Authority’s new Drought Contingency Plan, which emphasizes conservation in response to the…

Committee takes on water restrictions (again)

The battle over whether to loosen or make permanent some current water restrictions played out once again Wednesday at the City Council Public Utilities Committee, as Council Member Don Zimmerman questioned the intent of a recent public survey by Austin…

Water commissioners hear bad news about Pilot Knob

In another act in the ongoing drama over the Pilot Knob planned unit development, members of the Water and Wastewater Commission spent an hour-and-a-half Wednesday night trying to understand the implications of the controversial deal between the city and a…

Council members react to water meter audit

Although Austin Water and Austin Energy staff said at a City Council Public Utilities Committee meeting Wednesday that recent audits found the city’s water billing system to be accurate, the Council members who sit on that body said they still…

LCRA lowers water rate for cities, municipalities

The Lower Colorado River Authority is “making it rain” – savings, that is. The river authority’s board of directors approved a proposal on Wednesday to lower water rates for “firm” customers, typically cities and municipalities in Central Texas, starting in…

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Central Texas water management plan updated

The Central Texas drought may continue, but the days of uncertainty about how to handle the water on which Austinites and others depend appear to be over for the foreseeable future. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved a major…

City to ask for rehearing in water rate case

The battle over water rates for more than 46,000 Austin Water customers is not over, it appears. Austin Water Assistant Director David Anders told the Austin Monitor on Tuesday that the city intends to adhere to an order – issued…

Zimmerman water resolution not legal

City Council Member Don Zimmerman has failed in his attempt to give water utility money back to some of the customers who used the most water and had the highest bills during August. Zimmerman had proposed directing the city manager…

PUC resets rates for thousands of Austin Water customers

More than 46,000 Austin Water customers are getting their rates lowered, based on an order that the Public Utility Commission of Texas handed down to the city of Austin on Thursday. In addition, the city will have to request approval…

High water bills remain a puzzle (or maybe not)

Although various citizens complained to the Council Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday about their high water bills and the trouble those bills were causing them, there was no aha! moment during which the source of the puzzlingly high water usage…

PUC calls for order to reset certain water rates

The Public Utility Commission of Texas started a process Friday that could ultimately require Austin Water to reset water and wastewater rates for a group of customers that has challenged the city. The commission approved, with some exceptions, a proposal…

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