WIMBERLEY, Texas — Declining aquifer levels and exceptional drought conditions are keeping parts of Hays County under an emergency drought stage, the most severe phase.
The KVUE Defenders have been looking into critical water issues across Central Texas and speaking to those dealing with them on the frontlines.
But advocates hope voters will help by passing a constitutional amendment that will set aside $1 billion of the state's budget surplus to ease our water worries.
Every month, Keaton Hoelscher collects data from water wells, like the Old 100 Well in Wimberley. With Beans the Corgi by his side, Hoelscher measures pressure and water levels. Collecting data helps the well technician track long-term water level trends.
"Up until about late August, most of the wells were dropping pretty quickly and that was across the board for the district,” Hoelscher said.
The Old 100 Well is one of 60 wells the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District monitors. Charlie Flatten is the general manager.
"The Old 100 Well is important because it is a window into the aquifer,” Flatten said.
Flatten said that window shows the Trinity Aquifer at its lowest level since they started keeping records more than 20 years ago, including during the 2011 drought. And with the area way behind in rainfall the past two years, and water demand nearly doubling, Flatten said the aquifer district issued its first emergency drought declaration last year.
The declaration asked thousands of customers in Hays County, including Wimberley, Dripping Springs, Driftwood and Woodcreek, to cut back on their water use by 40%.
"We really need to think very carefully about how we use this very valuable water,” Flatten said.
Especially with the rapid growth in Hays County. The Census Bureau ranks Hays as the second fastest-growing county in the state, which has gone from 99,267 residents in 2000 to 269,225 in 2022. About a 171% increase.
That also means the number of water customers in the aquifer district also went up from 36,519 in 2010 to a little more than 53,121 in 2020. So what's the solution? Flatten said filling up the Trinity Aquifer isn't as simple as getting rain, but that it has to be the right kind.
"So, what we want is slow, steady, constant rain for the next six months ... The best estimate that we have is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5% of all of the rain that falls actually makes it down into the aquifer,” Flatten said.
The drought has made walking in Cypress Creek possible.
"You can walk in almost every creek in the Hill Country right now,” Flatten said.
Perhaps the most glaring example of the area’s depleted water supply is a nearly empty Jacob's Well Spring.
Thanks to October rain, the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District reported the flow gauge at Jacob’s Well had a short-lived increase from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2. But Hays County Parks Department Education Coordinator, Katherine Sturdivant, said water flow at Jacob's Well is back to zero as of Nov. 2 and swimming remains prohibited.
Low water levels are nothing new at Jacob's Well but Flatten said it has never been this bad, ever. The last time Jacob's Well was open for swimming was back in June of 2022.
But there is another culprit for Jacob's Well running dry.Flatten said Aqua Texas is overpumping the Trinity Aquifer.
The aquifer district fined the water provider $448,710 for pumping 89,443,992 gallons over its limit in 2022. Flatten said Aqua Texas’ drought-adjusted limit for 2022 is 101,603,308 gallons. Flatten also said Aqua Texas is already over its pumping limit for 2023, by 83,666,139 gallons, and is on track to overpump more in 2023 than it did in 2022.
"They have overproduced their permit. They continue to overproduce their permit,” Flatten said.
Flatten said Aqua Texas is negotiating that six-figure fine. If the water utility misses the payment deadline at the end of the year, he said Aqua's permit may not be renewed in 2024.
KVUE reached out to Aqua Texas for a comment and got the following statement from Aqua Texas Area Manager, Brent Reeh:
“We are deeply committed to our customers in this region. We also live and work here, so we understand the importance of finding innovative solutions to the water issues firsthand, while also balancing the growing demand. We are doing a lot to help solve the water issues in our region. Over the past year we’ve been trying to work with the Hays-Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to drill new wells to reduce our reliance on the Jacob’s Well Management Zone. We have spent more than $2 million trying to address this problem by removing pumping from the JWGMZ, and have committed $4 million more to update aging infrastructure in 2024. Unfortunately, the existing moratorium imposed by HTGCD on new wells also prevents Aqua from moving production outside of JWGMZ. We’re hoping we can continue to work through this with Hays Trinity GCD, for the good of our customers and the entire community.”
Aqua Texas representatives also said they couldn't comment further since they are in negotiations.
Critical water issues are why Flatten and other water advocates are pushing for Proposition 6, a constitutional amendment that would create a new billion-dollar water fund.
"We need new water,” Flatten said.
Jeremy Mazur, a senior policy advisor with Texas 2036, a public policy think tank, agrees.
"Water supply needs and our aging infrastructure problems have gotten worse,” Mazur said.
He said the new Texas Water Fund would help create new water supplies like aquifer storage and recovery systems, desalination, and wastewater reuse. Prop 6 would also aid in fixing deteriorating water systems, especially for rural communities.
But Mazur said the $1 billion is just a fraction of the investment needed between now and 2070. That's when the state population is expected to increase by more than 70% from 29.7 million in 2020 to a projected 51.5 million in 2070, according to the Texas Water Development Board.
"We know that the bills are going to be in excess of $150 billion over the next 50 years,” Mazur said.
Mazur also said $150 billion dollars is the total cost of developing new water supplies, fixing drinking water systems and upgrading old wastewater systems. Aging infrastructure is part of the reason water loss is a big problem in Texas.
State data shows Texas loses 51 gallons of water per service connection every day, which is enough water to supply the cities of Austin, Fort Worth, El Paso, Laredo, and Lubbock for an entire year.
According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, there have been 3,005 boil water notices issued in the state as of November 2, 2023.
As of November 2, 2923, the total number of boil water notices issued in the state for central Texas counties - Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Gillespie, Hays, Lee, Llano, Mason, Travis, and Williamson - is 195.
Upgrading old water pipes can help reduce leaks that trigger those boil water notices.
"If Hays County can direct some of that money to the utilities to fix some of their leaky systems, that's water conserved and that's more water that we have in the future,” Flatten said.
In the meantime, Keaton Hoelscher will keep monitoring conditions.
"They're all seeing very low water levels in relation to everything that we've recorded beforehand,” Hoelscher said.
He hopes enough Texans will turn out and support Prop 6 on Election Day.
Election Day is Nov. 7.