Water School

What does the Texas Water Code consider “other specified uses?”

Water Planning/Supply

Other specified uses as stated as a water permit exemption in the State of Texas refers to the less-common water uses such as water in fish or shrimp farming, in drilling for oil and for sediment control in surface coal mines.

What is emergency use of water in Texas?

Water Planning/Supply

Emergency use of water is an exemption to the state’s water rights permitting that allows counties and rural fire departments to draw water from surface water sources in the event it is needed for an emergency situation.

What is wildlife management?

Environmental

A wildlife management exemption to Texas water rights allows property owners to build and maintain a dam or reservoir of not more than 200 acre-feet of water on qualified open-space land for the purpose of providing water to indigenous wildlife.

What is "domestic and livestock" use?

Water Planning/Supply

Domestic and Livestock use is available only to those whose property adjoins a stream or river. This use is for water utilized by livestock, household needs and to irrigate a yard or home garden. This same exemption to Texas water rights allows property owners to impound or store water in stock tanks on larger than 200 acre-feet of storage volume.

Are there exceptions to the need for a water permit in Texas?

Water Planning/Supply

Yes, there are exceptions to the need for a surface water permit or contact to access water in Texas. The Texas Water Code states four “exempt uses” under which water may be made available without the need for a permit or contract. These are domestic and livestock use, wildlife management, and emergency use.

Must I obtain permission to use Texas surface water?

Water Planning/Supply

Yes, permission is required in order to ensure that there is enough water for all in need. The state has established procedures and requirements for obtaining access to state surface water. Water use may be sought through application for a state permit through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) or through the contract purchase of water from an already permitted entity.The Brazos River Authority holds numerous state issued permits for water use and provides this water to other...

Who owns Texas surface water?

Water Planning/Supply

Surface water in Texas is owned by the state and held in trust for the citizens of Texas. The state grants the right to use water to public and private interests, industry, businesses, cities and farmers or ranchers.

What is Texas Water Planning?

Water Planning/Supply

Water planning in Texas is the process where officials take a long-term look at Texas’ water needs and how to meet them. The current method of water planning stems from the passage of Senate Bill 1 by the 75th Texas Legislature in 1997. This bill set its goals providing for the development, management, and conservation of water resources and preparation for responding to drought conditions.The planning process takes place to ensure that sufficient water will be available at a reasonable co...

What is mitigation?

Environmental

Mitigation is action designed to reduce, eliminate or correct negative impacts on the environment.

What is non-point source pollution?

Environmental, Water Quality

Non-point source pollution are harmful substances that occur as a result of human activities over a wide area rather than from one specific location. These include forms of diffuse pollution caused by sediment, nutrients, organic and toxic substances that wash off city streets, plowed fields or other developed areas. The pollution is carried to lakes and streams by runoff. Examples of non-point source pollution are oil and gas that leak from cars and trucks onto the pavement or over a...

Why are some lakes/rivers clearer than others?

Environmental, Water Quality

There are a number of factors that may affect water clarity. The chief factor in the clarity of lakes and rivers in Texas is sediment. The more sediment in a stream or body of water, the cloudier it appears. This factor can vary depending on geography and climate. Some areas naturally have more sediment drawn from the surrounding land, particularly agricultural areas, where soil is often broken up and exposed. Water tends to be cloudier during rainier seasons when runoff carries topsoil and oth...

What are invasive plants?

Environmental

Invasive plants are non-native, typically exotic plants that thrive when introduced into areas where they have no predators or disease control. They quickly reproduce and grow unchecked, crowding out native species that use the same habitat. Some examples of invasive plants in Texas include the Chinaberry tree, running bamboo, and kudzu vine.Invasive water plants have a direct impact on Texas lakes. Plants such as giant salvinia, a floating plant native to Brazil, are especially harmful as...

What is golden algae?

Environmental

Golden algae is a naturally occurring microscopic algae that typically occurs in brackish water. Blooms of this algae can produce toxins that are lethal to fish and bivalves (mussels and clams). There is no evidence the toxins produced by golden algae are harmful to humans, livestock or wildlife. It characteristically appears as brownish or tea-colored water.If you see dead or dying fish on a Brazos River Authority reservoir, a golden algae bloom may be the cause. Please help us ...

What are algae?

Environmental

Algae are photosynthetic organisms that may be found in water. There are many types of alga and any number of the different types may exist in one waterbody at the same time.

What is mgd?

Wastewater Treatment, Water Treatment

MGD or million gallons per day is a measurement of water flow frequently used in measurement of water consumption. One mgd equals 133,680.56 cubic feet per day, 1.5472 cubic feet per second or 3.0689 acre-feet per day.

What is a gaging station?

Hydrology

A gaging station is a site on a stream, lake, reservoir or other body of water where observations and hydrologic data such as gage height and stream discharge are obtained.

What is chlorination?

Water Treatment

Chlorine is one of the elements known as halogens that are commonly used in bleach. It is used in potable water treatment plants to eliminate bacteria and to minimize odor and taste.The amount of chlorine needed to purify drinking water is known as the chlorine demand.

What is filtration?

Water Treatment

Filtration is the process of separating solids from water during the potable treatment process using a porous material such as a permeable fabric called a membrane or by using sand.

What is sedimentation?

Lake Levels

Sedimentation in water treatment is a process in which water is cleaned by allowing solids to settle out of the water by gravity during treatment.

What is potable water treatment?

Water Treatment

Potable water treatment is the process to purify water to make it acceptable to drink. Most water treatment processes include some form or a combination of sedimentation, filtration, and chlorination.To view an illustration of the potable water treatment process at the East Williamson County Regional Water System, click here.

What is reclaimed water?

Wastewater Treatment

Reclaimed water is treated wastewater or effluent that can be used for certain beneficial purposes, such as irrigation, without first being returned to the water cycle.

What is raw water?

Water Treatment

Raw water is ground or surface water that is taken directly from its source without treatment. Typically, most water is considered to be raw until it is treated by a potable water treatment process.

What are storm sewers?

Wastewater Treatment, Water Quality

Separate from sanitary water lines or wastewater sewers, storm sewers carry away surface rain runoff, street wash and snow melt via curb-side drains. Also unlike sanitary sewers, these systems usually drain directly into a creek, river, or other body of water without treatment. This is also how a lot of the trash ends up in our rivers and lakes. Everything thrown out in the street or dumped in a street drain (storm drain) ends up in a nearby river or lake.Dumping hazardous substances into the...

Where does effluent go once it leaves the treatment plant?

Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater treatment plants are typically located near creeks and rivers. The treated effluent is returned to the water cycle by being released into these waterways. As water sources become less abundant, many municipalities have chosen not to release effluent into the water cycle; rather to reuse the effluent for irrigation and industrial purposes directly from the water discharged from the treatment plant.

What is effluent?

Wastewater Treatment, Water Planning/Supply

Effluent is the water that leaves a sewage treatment plant after it has been treated.

What is greywater?

Environmental, Water

Greywater is wastewater from household or small commercial establishments that includes water from clothes washing machines, showers and bathtubs, and sinks used for handwashing. Greywater does not include water from the kitchen sink used for the cleaning of food and from toilets, dishwashers, or water used for washing diapers.In some areas, greywater may be released into the environment without going through a treatment process. Texas laws prohibit the release of greywater into or near la...

What is a wastewater treatment plant?

Wastewater Treatment

A wastewater treatment plant is a system used to clean wastewater generated within municipal areas. Most wastewater treatment plants utilize aerobic forms of cleaning water and removing waste so that water may be returned to the water cycle.At the treatment plant, the waste is separated into liquids that are purified and solid sludge that may be used in a number of recycling systems or taken to land fills.

What is a septic system?

Wastewater Treatment

A septic system is an on-site means of treating and disposing of domestic sewage without sending it to a municipal water treatment system. A septic system receives the waste from a home or business and uses an anaerobic method of breaking down the waste in a manner that will not harm people or the environment.A typical system includes a tank that allows the decomposition of solids by naturally occurring bacteria as well as a set of lines or a pit to dispose of the effluent or liquid. Anaerobic b...

Where does the water go after I wash my clothes, take a bath or flush my toilet?

Wastewater Treatment

Where wastewater goes once you are no longer using it depends on whether your plumbing is connected to a private septic system or a public sewage line.A septic system is normally used for wastewater treatment in areas where public sewage service is not available, such as rural areas. In areas where public sewage treatment is available, homes are usually linked to the public system by pipelines that take waste to a wastewater treatment plant that serves an area.

What can be done to remove pharmaceuticals from drinking water?

Environmental, Water Treatment

While water treatment plants can remove some chemicals, at this time, wastewater systems are not designed to remove pharmaceuticals. At this point, the best way to reduce the number of chemicals in our water is at their source.Pharmaceuticals enter the water cycle through a variety of sources including drugs that pass through the human body or domestic animals that are not completely absorbed and byproducts of the pharmaceutical manufacturing process.Additionally, improper disposal of old ...

Are there different kinds of bottled water?

Water, Water Quality

Artesian, spring, well and ground water comes from an underground aquifer and may or may not be treated. Well and artesian water are tapped through a well.Spring water is collected as it flows to the surface, and ground water can be either.Distilled water comes from steam from boiling water that is condensed. Distilling kills microbes and removes minerals, giving water a “flat” taste.Drinking water is simply intended for human consumption and can come from a variety of sources, including publi...

What is the difference between water from my faucet and bottled water?

Water

The main difference between water from a faucet and bottled water is the source. Water from your faucet comes from a local source - ground or surface water that is treated for contaminants at a municipal plant before it is sent through pipes to your home. In the case of some rural residents, water is drawn directly from the ground through nearby wells and may or may not be treated in a home-based system.Bottled water can come from anywhere across the country, ranging from artesian wells to ...

What is desalination?

Water Planning/Supply, Water Treatment

Desalination is the process of removing dissolved minerals (including total dissolved solids, chlorides, and others) from water to produce potable water for human consumption or fresh water for industrial use. The two most popular methods are thermal and membrane technologies.In the thermal process, salty water is heated to make vapor, which is condensed and collected as fresh water leaving the minerals behind. Membrane processes use high pressure to filter water through permeable membranes...

Occasionally, my water has an offensive odor and taste? Why?

Water Treatment

The woody, musty, earthy taste that shows up from time to time in our drinking water is normally due to natural causes. The main culprit: algae. When blue-green algae end their lifecycle they emit an oily substance called geosmin, which has a distinctive earthy taste that humans can detect in even small concentrations. While this added flavor in drinking water can be annoying, it poses no health hazard.While water utilities have long worked to reduce the prevalence of the offensive taste and odo...

What makes water hard or soft?

Environmental, Water Treatment

The mineral content determines whether your elements' water is either “hard” or “soft.” The higher the mineral content, the harder the water. Minerals affecting water hardness can include calcium and magnesium bicarbonate or calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride.The harder the water, the more soap is needed to make foam or lather. Hard water also produces scale in hot water pipes, heaters, boilers and other places where the ...

Where does my water come from?

Water

Your water comes from either a nearby reservoir, stream, or from groundwater. Where your water originates depends largely on where you live. Water sources can vary between surface water and ground at different locations within a relatively small geographical area. Many municipalities blend both surface water and groundwater together before sending it to your home.The State of Texas requires that your water provider inform you of where your water originates. Most providers send t...

Why must I buy water? If water belongs to the state, why is it not provided free of charge?

Water Planning/Supply

Water rights are issued by the State of Texas with a small annual fee necessary to pay the costs of the permitting program at the issuing agency. In many cases the State of Texas has created special districts, such as the Brazos River Authority, to develop and manage surface water supplies.The cost of building and maintaining dams and reservoirs, and all the other costs for managing water supplies, is not paid by the state and is not supported by any tax revenue. The revenue to pay those costs...

What is a water supply permit?

Water Planning/Supply

In Texas, a water supply permit is an authorization from the state to use surface waters for a beneficial use. Water supply permits are granted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In some counties, groundwater districts are authorized to issue water supply permits for the use of groundwater.

What is mineral water?

Environmental

Mineral water is naturally occurring or prepared water that contains dissolved minerals, elements or gasses, often used therapeutically. Several Brazos River basin towns built industries around local mineral water and its purported healing powers towards the end of the nineteenth century. Those cities included Mineral Wells, Marlin, Waco and others.

What is a tributary?

Environmental, River

A tributary is a small river or stream that merges or flows into a larger river or stream. A river typically has several tributaries.Numerous tributaries feed into the Brazos River including the Clear, Salt and Double Mountain forks of the Brazos as well as the Navasota, Bosque, Nolan, and Little rivers and Yegua Creek. In addition, those tributaries each have several sub-tributaries, including numerous creeks as well as the Leon and San Gabriel Rivers, among others.

What is an oxbow?

Environmental

An oxbow is a severe bend in a river channel creating a “U” shape and leaving a very narrow strip of land between the two bends. Many times, erosion will wear through this narrow strip and the course of the river changes leaving a “U” shaped or oxbow lake or a dry riverbed.

What is erosion?

Environmental

Erosion is the process in which soil is moved or carried away by water, air or other natural processes.

What is an off-channel reservoir?

Environmental, Water Planning/Supply

An off-channel reservoir is a water supply lake built next to or near a river. Off-channel reservoirs are considered by some to be environmentally friendly, lessening the impact on fish and other wildlife by avoiding the need to place a large dam directly on the main stem of the river.An example of an off-channel reservoir is the Brazos River Authority’s planned and permitted Allens Creek Reservoir, near Houston. For more information about Allens Creek, click here.

What is a channel?

Environmental

A channel is a watercourse or path taken by a river, creek or brook. It may be natural or man-made and includes a definite bed and banks that directs the flow of water.

What is a wetland?

Environmental

Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil or is present at or near the soil’s surface for most or all of the year. Wetlands provide a habitat for a variety of plants and animals and can serve as a natural water filter.Man-made wetlands have been developed to treat water coming from an outside source, such as a river, before it enters a water treatment program.

What is an estuary?

Environmental

An estuary is a place where fresh and salt water mix, for example, a bay, salt marsh or where a river enters the ocean or Gulf of America.The Brazos River estuary is located on the upper Texas coast and is a riverine estuary that flows directly into the Gulf of America rather than into a system of bays. Riverine estuaries, like the Brazos River estuary, are unique in that the area of the estuary is dependent on freshwater inflows versus typical bay like estuaries that are also influenced by evap...

What is a watershed? A subwatershed?

Environmental

A watershed is the land area or topographic region that drains into a particular stream, river, or lake. This land feature can be identified by tracing a line on a map along the highest elevations between two areas.Large watersheds may contain hundreds or thousands of smaller subwatersheds that drain into the river or other waterbody. The Brazos River watershed encompasses more than 42,000 square miles and includes many smaller streams and rivers with their own smaller watersheds.

Besides drinking, how is water used?

Water

Did you know that water will never laugh at puns or jokes because it is not a fan of dry humor?Besides the most obvious use of water for drinking, the precious resource is also used for multiple other practices that don’t regularly cross our minds. This includes domestically in our homes, agriculturally for our food, and industrially in business.Water in our homes can be used to bathe, cook, wash dishes and clothes, keep pools clean and full, water grass and lawns and flush toilets. Accord...

What is percolation?

Environmental, Hydrology

Percolation is the movement of water through soil and its layers by force of gravity.

What are total dissolved solids?

Environmental

Total dissolved solids, or TDS, are the amount of minerals that remain when a water sample is completely evaporated, such as the water spots on your glassware. TDS is a measurement of all organic and sometimes inorganic solids in water and is reported as milligrams per liter (mg/l). TDS includes elements and organic compounds such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides, and sulfates. TDS is used as a general indicator of water quality.

What does brackish mean?

Wastewater Treatment, Water Quality

Brackish is a term used to describe water that contains more dissolved minerals (see total dissolved solids) than normally acceptable for municipal, domestic and agricultural uses. It has a higher amount of dissolved solids than fresh water but not as high as saltier types such as seawater.Brackish water includes concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 milligrams per liter (mg/l).

What is turbidity?

Wastewater Treatment, Water Quality

Turbidity is the amount of particles suspended in water. It is the factor that causes water to appear cloudy or even opaque. It is measured by how the particles scatter light rays moving through the water.

What is an aquifer?

Environmental, Groundwater

An aquifer is an underground geological formation that stores and transmits water in amounts that can be extracted by a water well in useful quantities. For a full size map, click here.

What are the benefits of wetlands?

Environmental, Water Quality

Wetlands provide a habitat for a variety of plants and animals that would fare poorly in other environments. They also provide water storage, functioning like a sponge, storing water and slowly releasing it. This helps ease water’s potential for flooding and erosion. The slow release also contributes to surface water flow during dry periods.Wetlands also can act as a natural water filtration system. As the water enters the wetland, its movement slows around plants, which allows suspended sedime...

What type of water transportation systems does the Brazos River Authority operate?

Authority Programs & Services, Water Transportation

The BRA operates two pipeline systems that transport water from reservoir storage to areas where it is needed. The Williamson County Regional Water Line carries raw water from Stillhouse Hollow Lake to Lake Georgetown, serving the residents of Georgetown, Round Rock, and the Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District. The East Williamson County Water Transmission Line moves water supply from Lake Granger to a potable water treatment plant.

How many potable water treatment plants are run by the Brazos River Authority and whom do they serve?

Authority Programs & Services, Water Treatment

The Brazos River Authority owns and operates the East Williamson County Regional Water System serving the cities of Taylor, Hutto and Thrall, the Jonah Special Utilities District and the Nowak Water Supply Company. The BRA also contracts to operate the Sandy Creek Water Treatment Plant in Leander and the Lee County Fresh Water Supply District No. 1, serving the community of Dime Box.

How many wastewater treatment plants are run by the Brazos River Authority and whom do they serve?

About the Authority, Wastewater Treatment

The Brazos River Authority operates the Temple-Belton Wastewater Treatment System as well as wastewater treatment centers for the cities of Hutto, Sugar Land, Dime Box, Clute and Richwood. Other operations include the Brushy Creek Regional Wastewater System, which serves the cities of Round Rock, Cedar Park, Austin and the Fern Bluff and Brushy Creek municipal utility districts.

What is the Brazos River basin?

Brazos River

The Brazos River basin covers a swath across Texas more than 600 miles long, beginning near the Texas-New Mexico Border and ending at the Gulf of America in Brazoria County.The basin includes all or part of 70 Texas counties within 42,000 square miles and includes numerous smaller tributary rivers including the Double Mountain, Salt and Clear Forks, the Paluxy, Bosque, Nolan, Little, and Navasota Rivers and dozens of smaller rivers and tributaries.For a full-sized map, click here.

What is a water supply lake?

Reservoirs, Water Planning/Supply

As the name implies, water supply lakes are built primarily to provide a place to store water for Texas residents, communities, businesses, agriculture, industry and others who all depend on water to survive and thrive. Such lakes are especially vital during periods of drought, when other sources of water may be limited. Many of Texas’ flood control lakes serve a secondary purpose as a water storage facility. However, reservoirs designed for water supply, do not necessarily also provide flood...

What is a dam? Are all dams alike?

Reservoirs

A dam is a structure designed to hold back water in a lake, river, stream or other waterbody. Large dams typically include gates or other outlet devices that can be raised or lowered, opened or closed to allow variable amounts of water to pass downstream or leave the lake. The path the water takes to leave the reservoir through the gates is called a spillway.There are several styles of dams used for different purposes to meet specific conditions at the dam site. The design of the dam is in...