Swimming at Jacob’s Well suspended again for 2024 season

Hays County officials have again suspended swimming at Jacob’s Well for the 2024 swimming season, May 1 through September 30.

Katherine Sturdivant, Hays County Parks Education Coordinator, said factors affecting the flow at Jacob’s Well is a multiyear drought and increased demand on the Trinity Aquifer, which supplies Jacob’s Well.

“Texas’ drought of record extended from 1950-57, but according to written and oral histories, Jacob’s Well did not stop flowing. Now, we’ve got a lot more folks relying on that aquifer, and we have seen Jacob’s Well quit flowing for a sixth time,” Sturdivant said in a news release.

In October 2022, the spring flow reached zero, making it the fifth time in recorded history that Jacob’s Well had stopped flowing. Since then, Jacob’s Well has remained at or near zero flow for approximately two years.

Although swimming is suspended, Jacob’s Well Natural Area will remain open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for hiking and viewing the spring. Jacob’s Well Natural Area will also be extending its Saturday morning guided tour program through May.