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During 2019, Texas Water Resources Institute’s communications team covered everything from challenges of water utilities to profiles of water resources professionals across Texas.

Here are our top 10 articles from 2019:

1. 10 challenges of water utilities: We examined the challenges of Texas water utilities, including renewal and replacement of aging water and wastewater infrastructure, in this Summer 2019 txH₂O
2. Water, but no workers: In the same txH₂O issue, we looked at the decline of water utilities’ workforce and how higher education systems are helping to fill the workforce gap.
3. Meet a scientist: Rebecca Grubbs-Bowling: Our Conservation Matters series, Meet a scientist, is always popular, and this profile on the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service turfgrass specialist was the top one.
4. Wearing multiple hats: Back to the Summer txH₂O issue, this article explored the struggles of smaller water utilities with having enough revenue to fund upgrades and keeping staff.
5. Playas: Refilling the Ogallala Aquifer?: Recharging the Ogallala Aquifer is the goal for the Texas Playa Conservation Initiative (TxPCI), and this February Conservation Matters story looked at how the initiative is trying to restore playas in the Ogallala region.
6. Diversifying water portfolios: San Antonio Water System and El Paso Water use ‘out-of-the-box’ strategies to ensure future supplies for their citizens, and in this article, we talked with both utilities to find out how they became leaders in innovation strategies and aggressive conservation.
7. Request for proposals for Water Seed Grant Initiative for FY 20-21 announced: This article about the Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station request for Water Seed Grant Initiative for proposals caught our readers’ attention. Watch for a Conservation Matters article in 2020 announcing the multidisciplinary teams awarded the grants.
8. Wetlands: Water's original filter: In this April Conservation Matters article, we looked at two innovative constructed wetlands in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The wetlands have the ability to divert over 180 million gallons of treated wastewater per day from the Trinity River and naturally filter it for reuse.
9. Two Nations, One Water Conference to explore adaptive water strategies for drought: This article gave the heads up on a conference focusing on the Rio Grande and the two countries that share its water challenges, particularly during drought.
10. Meet a scientist: Fouad Jaber: Last but not least, this Meet a scientist article is about this AgriLife Extension specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, who applies concepts of ecological engineering to managing urban water.

Interestingly enough, some of our articles from years past also popped up as top stories read in 2019. Check out this Fall 2016 txH₂O article: Do you live in Flash Flood Alley? as well as the perennial favorite, our Fall 2011 txH₂O issue on Texas drought.

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