Hill Country dries up during record-hot August
After a record 45 days of consecutive 100-degree and above temperatures and profound lack of meaningful rain, the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District is reporting record low Trinity Aquifer levels district-wide.
According to the HTGCD, the organization receives multiple calls per week reporting dried-up wells or pumps that need to be lowered yet again. The incidence of dried-up wells is geographically distributed and not concentrated in one area — indicating conditions are uniformly deteriorating. The district’s monitor well network and reports from neighboring districts in the Hill Country tell the same story.
Real estate agents have begun to ask: “How much value will this property lose with no access to a reliable aquifer?” Dried-up wells are expensive to repair, and in some areas, local aquifer conditions have deteriorated beyond the point of lowering the pump. In a growing number of cases, a whole new well may be required. In some areas of the county, the Middle Trinity Aquifer has been dewatered entirely and will not rebound, the HTGCD said.
Local bulk water haulers reported that many of the water utilities which traditionally offered potable bulk supplies have begun restricting sales to within their service area or eliminating bulk sales altogether. Dwindling supplies have, in turn, created sharp increases in delivery prices due to the growing distances that trucks must travel from the source to the customer.
“This creates a very worrisome condition for folks who rely on cisterns to supplement their rainwater harvesting systems and for those whose wells have failed,” the HTGCD said. The drought that began last year has continued into 2023 with similar rainfall deficits and record- breaking heat. The U.S. Drought Monitor currently indicates a growing area of D-4 Exceptional Drought in the Blanco and Pedernales River watersheds to the west in Blanco and Gillespie Counties — where the majority of aquifer recharge for the district occurs.
When taking into account both temperature and precipitation, the 2023 drought has proven to be even worse than 2022, and it started with much lower water reserves. In the meantime, the area also grew in population, increasing demand on natural resources. For that reason, the district remains in its maximum Emergency Drought Stage (40% curtailment and enhanced permitting restrictions), and most utilities in western Hays Counties have declared similar stages as well.
The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District Board has also taken action to place a temporary moratorium on issuing new non-exempt well drilling and production permits in order to help protect existing users’ groundwater supplies.
“Droughts are creeping disasters. This drought has reached an emergency stage, and it’s time for everyone including exempt well owners to make the sacrifices needed to get us through to the fall rainy season,” HTGCD Board President Linda Kaye Rogers said.
The greatest draw on the aquifer, outside of leaking commercial infrastructure, comes from the thousands of exempt residential wells supplying groundwater to outdoor irrigation, pools and ponds, she explained. While neighboring Districts have some ability to manage residential and agricultural wells as allowed by Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code, the HTGCD does not. The district appealed to those thousands of well owners to treat the dwindling aquifer level as they would “a bank account that will not be seeing any deposits in the near future.”
“The groundwater district is appealing to all well owners to commit to the most conservative water curtailment,” HTGCD said in a statement. “Please do not fill ponds or ornamental water features. Eliminate outdoor landscape irrigation, cover the pool to reduce evaporation and minimize indoor use.”
“The bottom line for western Hays County is that to support booming population growth and emergency services, alternative water supplies must replace groundwater during drought and supplement existing groundwater supplies at all other times,” it continued. “Without alternatives, sustaining growth or adequately managing drought won’t be possible.”
Hays County has and continues to develop industry- leading tools to expand the county’s water independence. The Dripping Springs Water Supply reports that its growing water reuse program has non-potable water available to qualified customers for irrigation and construction purposes. Additionally, Dripping Springs is the national epicenter of industry-leading rainwater harvesting technology. The economic success of efficiency standards in Blue Hole Elementary’s One Water design is also a national example.
“Sourcing an alternative water supply is the proverbial third leg of the stool needed to expand the county’s water independence,” the HTGCD concluded.