The WEAT Office will be closed Monday thru Wednesday (9/23-25) as we attend WEFTEC 2019 in Chicago. We'll be cheering on our record-breaking Ops Challenge Teams, making new friends and reconnecting with old ones from across the world, and supporting those WEAT members who are presenting at the conference - 51 presentations!

As goes Texas, so goes the United States. Scottsdale, Arizona is set to expand and upgrade their indirect reuse facilityto allow treated effluent to be sent directly to a drinking water plant. They are following in the footsteps of Texans in Big Spring and Wichita Falls, under a recent modification to the State of Arizona's permitting process that finally allows for Direct Potable Reuse.

The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers and the Independent Petroleum Association of America released a white paper on Monday, detailing the opportunities and challenges facing Texas' mineral extraction industry, with regards to water. The report praises Texas' proactive regulatory approach, advocates for NPDES delegation to the TCEQ, and forecasts higher oilfield demand for freshwater, as well as new market opportunities as a result of increased demand.

Riverfront property owners and the Guadelupe-Blanco River Authority reached a settlement over the proposed and litigated draining of four lakes on the Guadelupe River. The GBRA will not lower the dam floodgates, and thus the overall lake levels, on Meadow Lake, Lake Placid, Lake McQueeney, and Lake Gonzales. Because the dams are thus at a higher risk of collapse (two similar dams on the Guadelupe, Dunlap and Wood, have failed in the last 3 years) recreation will be prohibited while the GBRA explores their remaining options.

A Texas resident has died as a result of swimming in water contaminated with the brain eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. Remember to exercise caution when swimming in natural bodies of freshwater.