The future of the Edwards Aquifer

The Edwards Aquifer Website run by Gregg Eckhardrt does an amazing job of defining issues and unanswered questions facing the aquifer today. Some of these questions are technical, waiting to be answered by various scientists. Others are of legal, economic and institutional nature. Here are some of the highlights of these issues:

Technical

- The question of the "bad water line, which is actually a zone of the interface between the quickly-cycling fresh water and saline, heavier water that sits below and leeches out minerals from limestone, which makes not drinkable (1,000 ppm of total dissolved solids comparing to EPA suggested 500 ppm for drinking water). Some studies have suggested that this saline water line may move irreversibly if the aquifer  is overdrawn during a drought.

- Not all boundaries and separate pools of the aquifer have been defined. More studies are required to define those and identify the interactions (if any) between the pools.

- the geological and biological processes that turn muddy recharge water into clear, pristine springflows are not yet well studied. More knowledge on what the aquifer can handle and filter as far as contaminants and toxins would be important for regulating water quality in the future.

- what are the springflow requirements in order to support endangered species? These rates have changed since the Fish and Wildlife Service was first tasked with defining flow rates in 1990's. In times of drought these rates are important in order to define the amount allowed to be pumped from the aquifer by users.

Image courtesy of City of San Antonio website

Legal 

- Surface water is considered public property and managed by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Groundwater is treated as a separate, unique resource and in the case of the Edwards Aquifer is managed by the Edwards Aquifer Authority. But ultimately, both surface and groundwater are inseparable and interconnected, so the laws and regulations should reflect that fact. And so one of the major legal issues facing the aquifer is the conjunctive management of surface and groundwater.

- To what extent (if any) can development over the Recharge and Contributing Zones be regulated and which authority is responsible for the task? Is compensation required and which entity would pay that?

Texas Hill Country. Image courtesy of Save Our Springs Alliance

Economical 

- What is the value of water? Historically it has been one of the cheapest and least appreciated resources in our country, but with our growing populations and changing climate what will happen if the price of this resource goes up?

- The economica value of environmental services that the Edwards Aquifer provides are not well defined. What is the price that the public is willing to pay in order to protect the aquifer?


Institutional 

- Groundwater is a resource used by many users - urban, agricultural, recreational and etc. How can these groups be bought together and made to realize that they are using a single, common resource and therefore need to work together to manage and protect it?

- The boundaries of management institutions such as the Edwards Aquifer Authority do not overlap with political boundaries. Should those boundaries be one and the same and will the growing numbers of groundwater conservation districts complicate things even more?

- There is still a negative cultural attitudes about recycling. Efforts need to be made in order to change those views and implement water reuse strategies as part of an effort to conserve groundwater.

There are some great organizations in Texas that are working to address some of there issues:

AGUA, is a San Antonio-based non-profit organization that focuses on preserving the Edwards Aquifer. Since its establishment in 1993 this coalition was able to limit or divert many development projects off the Recharge Zone. Here is full list of their accomplishments thus far.

Water IQ is a Texas public awareness program on water conservation.

Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) is a coalition of professionals whose goal is designing and implementing wastewater technologies and water programs in order to protect and enhance the state's water resources.

The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance is a non-proft focused on education and protection of the Edwards Aquifer and surrounding Hill Country.

There are many other organizations at work in order to protect and enhance this unique Texan resource.  With growing populations, strong and influential interest groups, and changing climate the demand for high-quality groundwater is growing. But more and more people are joining the fight for the Edwards Aquifer and hopefully it will remain a steady source of drinking water, beautiful flowing springs and inspiration for many generations of Central Texans to come.

Murky waters and politics

While the Edwards Aquifer Authority has long been managing the quantity of water to be pumped from lands under its jurisdiction, the question of the quality of water remains unanswered and will likely become a major issue of concern in years to come.

Because the Edwards Aquifer is recharged through caves and large openings that lead directly into the subsurface of the aquifer any pollutants, sediments and toxins in recharge flow can quickly end up in the springs flow. Low water quality would effect human users, but could also devastate fragile ecosystems supported by the flow from the aquifer.

There had long been a connection established between fast development and local water quality. For example, construction areas create large plots of disturbed, loose soil. Texas is known for its unpredictable weather events. When it rains in Texas, it pours. These big rain events can carry a lot of soil sediments into the aquifer.

Image courtesy of the Edwards Aquifer Website

Once the construction is over, there is usually more impervious surface created over the recharge zone. Buildings, roads and parking lots take up precious areas of land where water could percolate down into the ground. These surfaces also collect oils, grease and other urban contaminants, that are taken up by rain water and eventually carried underground. Larger areas of impervious surface also create larger storm flows, which increase the risk of flooding and cause more erosion in creek banks and slopes.

While the Edwards Aquifer provides some filtration due to the porous structure of its limestone, little is known about the true extent of its capabilities to filter. It is likely that the aquifer could filter out large particles like sediment, but could do very little for chemical toxins and pollutants. The biological structure of the aquifer and the action of microbiological communities in filtering groundwater is not well studied. And while no major toxic spill events have occurred in the area to this day, it could just be a tragedy waiting to happen.

A solution to low quality of groundwater could be building water processing plants, but unlike surface water that in Texas is processed in very large water facilities and from there delivered to customers, groundwater sources are not concentrated. For example, the city of San Antonio that relied on the Edwards Aquifer for most of its water has many small wells, which pump and deliver water to local communities. So if it was necessary to process all the water from the aquifer many small processing plants would have to be built, which may not be economical.

Another, more reasonable and therefore more difficult solution would be to begin regulating development in the Recharge and Contributing Zones of the aquifer. But there are obstacles to overcome. One is a cultural one - Texans like and respect their private property and regulation of development could be a difficult idea to convince citizens. The second obstacle is powerful development interests. Texas has been trying to bring in large industries by creating incentives and currently has some of the fastest growing cities in the country. This movement is not likely to not likely to slow down any time soon. But so far, there has only been push-back from communities and cities on a case-by-case basis.

Texas will soon have to find a balance between respecting private property, yet still protecting a resource that ultimately belongs to everyone, even if it is not so on paper. Without water quality regulation and growing populations and development it could only be time before a serious spill or event will cause a serious drop in water quality in the aquifer. If that were to happen today there would be no responsible authority to mitigate the effects.

Digging deep, in all the wrong ways

Image courtesy of Statesman.com

Recent droughts in Texas have caused a surge in private water well drilling in parts of Austin and the rest of the state. Homeowners are tapping into the northern parts of the Edwards Aquifer and most of the drilling happens in the wealthier neighborhoods such as Pemberton Heights, Tarrytown and Old Enfield. These areas are outside of any water conservation district and therefore the previously mentioned law of the "biggest pump" applies. The number of new wells drilled more than doubled from 19 to more than 47 in the last two years. The seemingly good news is that these new wells are used primarily for watering lawns and therefore decrease the use of city water from Lady Bird Lake. But with little knowledge of that particular area of the aquifer and no restrictions on pumping negative effects are bound to appear.

No efforts have been started to control the drilling of new wells or the amount of pumping. But, authorities are taking notice of the trend, and as Assistant Director of Austin Water Utility Daryl Slusher said "we're definitely watching it. We are definitely concerned about the impact of folks doing this." Any attempts to limit this pumping on private land will also be halted by Supreme Court's landmark ruling this February.

For the homeowner, the economics of drilling a well make sense - initial cost of the well is around $20,000, but it allows the user to save about $500 a month on the water bill. Counting just the hotter months of the year (May-September) and the well pays for itself in less than a decade. And this is just for your regular half-acre lot. But according to the same homeowner, the amount of water that went into his lawn jumped by about 30% since the installment of the well. This is the scary part.

Drilling private wells undermines the water conservation culture that some groups in Texas are trying so hard to instill. Once the well goes in, the owner has no incentive to limit the pumping, in contrary, the more water they pump the fast the investment will pay for itself. With more water available the owners are also less likely to switch to more drought-resistant, native landscaping techniques. With no way to monitor the amounts of water that people are pumping onto their land and no end to droughts in sight this new trend may cause serious depletion of the precious resource.

Image courtesy of Austin Daily Photo

Since groundwater in Texas is not considered to be a public resource and in areas outside of groundwater conservation districts the pumping of water is not controlled may this resource suffer from a case of tragedy of the commons? With climate change intensifying droughts throughout the state and ongoing population growth the demand for water will continue to increase over time. It seems that converting groundwater to a public resource may be the only logical step in mitigating future issues and providing enough water for all citizens of Texas.