SOURCE A VITAL The Edwards Aquifer spans approximately 3,600 square miles, comprises three zones and provides water for 2.5 million people in eight counties.
UNDERSTANDING THE AQUIFER ZONES
GILLESPIE
BLANCO
Fredericksburg
HAYS
EDWARDS
KERR
Blanco
CONTRIBUTING ZONE: Also called the drainage zone, the watersheds in this area drain into streams or areas where water is quickly absorbed into the Edwards Aquifer.
Buda
Kerrville
KENDALL
Rocksprings
REAL
San Marcos Lockhart
COMAL
BANDERA
Boerne
New Braunfels
CALDWELL
Leakey
Bandera
GUADALUPE
Selma Schertz
UVALDE
ARTESIAN ZONE: This is the section of the Edwards Aquifer where the water pressure brings water to the surface naturally in springs and some wells. RECHARGE ZONE: This is the part of the Edwards Aquifer with sinkholes and fractures where rainwater easily enters and re lls the aquifer.
EDWARDS AQUIFER AUTHORITY JURISDICTION COUNTIES
San Antonio
Hondo
Brackettville
WILSON
Uvalde
BEXAR
Floresville
KINNEY
MEDINA
MAVERICK
Batesville
Pearsall
Pleasanton
Eagle Pass
ZAVALA
FRIO
ATASCOSA
MAP NOT TO SCALE N
SOURCE: EDWARDS AQUIFER AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Roland Ruiz.
from city to city, but generally the restrictions limit watering with a sprinkler or irrigation system to once every week based on the last digit of one’s address, which must occur before 10 a.m. or after 8 p.m. Jan De La Cruz, conservation coor- dinator for the city of San Marcos, said the city is constantly monitoring aqui- fer levels and rainfall to determine the right stage to prevent excess water use or if the stage level needs to rise. “It’s looking a little bit better lately because we’ve actually been getting some rain. Not as much as we’d like to see but we have been getting some, and some of the recharge areas have been getting some good rains,” De La Cruz said. De La Cruz said outdoor water use on lawns is the top use of water during the summer, so it is the use most nec- essary to curtail. “We try to encourage folks to follow those restrictions and try to educate
people that once-a-week watering with sprinklers should be plenty of water for your lawn. It may not be lush green with temperatures and all that, but it’s enough to keep it alive,” she said. For much of October and Novem- ber 2021, prior to the current drought period beginning, spring ows at the San Marcos Springs—which is fed by the Edwards Aquifer—hovered above 200 cubic feet per second. As of August, the ows began dipping below 90 cfs, according to measurements recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey. In neighboring Comal County, the Comal Springs reached a similar peak in the same period, up to nearly 300 cfs in October 2021 and to just below 90 cfs in August. The most signi cant historic drought in Texas took place in 1956, when the Comal Springs stopped ow- ing completely from June to Novem- ber, Ruiz said. The San Marcos Springs fell to 48 cfs in July of that year.
“Short of signi - cant rainfall between now and the start of
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The cities of San Marcos and Kyle are under Stage 2 watering restric- tions, and Buda is under Stage 1 restrictions. Water levels in the Edwards Aquifer dropped this year to levels not seen since 2014. The J-17 Index Well in Bexar County is used to monitor and track water lev- els in the aquifer and correlates closely to ow levels from Comal Springs and San Marcos Springs. The J-17 Index Well is over 23 feet below the histor- ical average values for the summer months in the region, according to the Edwards Aquifer Authority. It would take a signi cant amount of rain in the northwest region of Cen- tral Texas to allow drought restrictions to be lifted. If the area does not have any rainy seasons leading up to next summer, a dry climate will continue, according to EAA General Manager
next year, we’re going to nd ourselves where we are today except earlier in the year because we may not come out of any stage of critical period if we don’t have rainfall,” Ruiz said. Drought response Hays County was free of drought restrictions from June 2021 until March, when o cials with the Edwards Aquifer Authority announced Hays, Caldwell, Comal and other neighboring counties entered Stage 1 drought restrictions e ective March 9. Stage 1 water restrictions were declared due to the lack of su cient rainfall and to limit the amount of water that can be used by residents. San Marcos and Kyle are under Stage 2 restrictions, and Buda is under Stage 1. Some of the restrictions vary
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