- TWDB’s weekly drought watch shows the first increase in drought conditions in 10 weeks.
- Texans were asked to set their thermostats to 78 degrees last week after a series of forced power plant outages. ERCOT has not yet reported the cause of the "tight" power grid conditions, but 12,000 megawatts of power generation went offline.
- After extreme weather has exposed vulnerabilities in the Texas power grid, contributors to The Hill wrote an opinion piece on how the grid can be improved in times of climate change. Some of these ideas include updating performance standards, building energy systems for future weather conditions, incentivizing low energy use, and diversifying the grid.
- A $381 million project to reduce the Houston area’s dependence on groundwater was recently completed after 50 years of planning. The Luce Bayou Inter-basin Transfer Project will transition the focus of water sourcing to surface water and will “put Houston in a position to provide adequate water to all of its citizens and customers for the next 75 years”.
- The Lower Colorado River Authority has reported a decline in blue-green algae toxicity in Lake Travis. Toxicity levels can change rapidly in the summer, so make sure to keep your dogs from eating or playing with the algae! Starting July 1, the LCRA will expand their testing to 16 additional sites.