Up to a million gallons of treated wastewater could flow into Helotes Creek from Lennar’s planned Guajolote Ranch every day, putting local wells and San Antonio’s primary water source at risk.
‘Why is CenterPoint Energy making billions while people die? Why is Encor and other electric utilities making massive profits, when none of that comes back to us?’ — Dave Cortez, Texas Sierra Club
As climate drought intensifies, San Antonio Water System’s 2025 termination of a conservation program popular among local eco-yard proponents highlights tensions between conservation and accessibility in the utility’s struggles for future water security.
Traditional irrigation canals have long held communal—even ‘spiritual’—power while helping balance the water supply during droughts. But this communal system is increasingly threatened by commodication of water, growers say.
“It is hard to open social media without seeing cellphone videos from the cars-washing-down-steep-streets genre; everywhere the flows are muddy-brown, and swirling with power,” Bill McKibben said.
Edward Carver | Common
‘The elders are still there. Don’t think that they are gone. They’re still there around you. And you have this message that you have to carry in your heart, in your mind, in your blood, in nature, in every living species.’ — Hinano Murphy
South Texas landowners and communities have long decried the land and water pollution from the coal plant and adjacent lignite mining operations, one of the most contaminated locations in the state.
From the High Plains to Central Texas, public water supplies and unregulated wells serving several thousands of residents contain levels of fluoride some experts say could be harmful to fetal brain development.
Some of the healthiest coral reefs on the planet exist off the coast of Texas and Louisiana. But researchers say the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is no longer beyond the reach of fossil fuels and the extreme ocean heatwaves they are causing.