As the Holiday season continues, we encourage you to Defend Your Drains and join us for the Holiday Grease Round-Up. Many of us are cooking more during the holidays. More cooking means more dishwashing. More dishwashing means more fats, oils, and grease (FOG) can go down the kitchen sink. FOG often builds up on the sides of sewer pipes and can mix with wipes, rags, and paper towels, resulting in clogs. If sewer pipes overflow, that untreated wastewater can reach local waterways and negatively impact water quality in our lakes. The Holiday Grease Round-Up is a way for people across North Texas to divert FOG from their pipes and recycle it instead. FOG collected during the roundup is turned into biofuel or bioenergy. This helps our landfills, and air quality and decreases the chance of sewer overflows. The roundup is running now until January 9th and NTMWD is one of the drop-off locations. Collection hours are Monday-Friday 7:30 am – 4:00 pm and Saturday-Sunday 8:00 am – 2:00 pm.
The North Texas Regional Water Conservation Symposium
On November 17th, the Texas Regional Water Conservation Symposium was hosted by North Texas Municipal Water District, Dallas Water Utilities, Tarrant Regional Water District, and Upper Trinity Regional Water District. Over 100 participants gathered in person in Coppell, Texas to hear 5 speakers cover topics such as water conservation communications, incentives, and how to create effective outreach programs. The day ended with a panel of leaders of smaller utilities sharing their water conservation strategies and challenges. Ginny Rivers, GM of Gastonia Scurry represented the NTMWD service area.
Water Trivia Night
On November 17, the second Water Trivia Night hosted by NTMWD, the City of Frisco, and the City of McKinney. Fifty people including three from the North Texas Regional Water Conservation Symposium competed for prizes at Guitars & Growlers in McKinney. Several North Texas Municipal Water District employees came to have fun, including Aliza Caraballo and her son who each won a bonus round. NTMWD continues its water trivia dominance due to the quick mind of Austin Riley, the caption of the first-place team.
John Bunker Sands Wetland Center Tour
Employees from the City of Plano Public Works and Environmental Health and Sustainability departments made a special trip to see how North Texas Municipal Water District uses a 2000-acre constructed wetland to extend its existing water supply. Also known as the East Fork Water Reuse Project, a wetland cleans water from the East Fork of the Trinity River and then pipes it 43 miles to Lavon Lake. In the middle of the wetland sits the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center which was created as a public-private partnership with the Rosewood Corporation. The John Bunker Sands Wetland Center is an education destination offering numerous recreational and learning opportunities to the public. The City of Plano group enjoyed a visit to the wetland center to hear the history of the wetland and an overview of the water reuse project. Then they toured the NTMWD Diversion and Conveyance Pump Stations and the north part of the wetland.
NTMWD Lunch & Learn Virtual Series
The last session of the NTMWD Lunch & Learn Virtual Series for 2022 was on Friday, November 18, 2022. Brad Voss from TAMU AgriLife taught 29 people how to successfully plant and care for trees in North Texas. The audience also learned about the Holiday Grease Roundup. As a thank-you, one participant in the session will be randomly selected to win a Know More Water Less gardening kit. Replays of the classes are available at /classes/ for viewing and sharing.