Beneath the surface From the cover
The overview
CORYELL
Map key:
Contributing zone
Recharge zone
Transition zone
LAMPASAS
BELL
281
With San Antonio bracing for the sixth drought year in a row and Central Texas entering another dry spring, local o cials are implementing a multi-pronged strategy to maintain the city’s water supply for future generations. “The foundation for economic vitality and quality of life in San Antonio is our water security. Without it, we have nothing. And the basis of our water security is, and always will be, the Edwards Aquifer,” Nirenberg said. Annalisa Peace, executive director at the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, said the best way to balance future development and protect the aquifer is to move development away from the recharge zone, which is the area where surface water ows directly into the aquifer. “[The city should] concentrate new growth in the urban areas,” Peace said. “But if you’re going east of the recharge zone we don’t have any problem, if you’re going south of the recharge zone, we have no problem. So there’s a lot of developable land, and there’s a lot of developments that we are not protesting at all. We’re just concerned about this one area, and it’s geographically a pretty small area.”
1604
BURNET
WILLIAMSON
10
TRAVIS
• Austin
BLANCO
HAYS
KERR
KENDALL
CADWELL
COMAL
EDWARDS
REAL
BANDERA
GUADALUPE
• San Antonio
GONZALES
MEDINA
BEXAR
KINNEY
UVALDE
WILSON
MAP NOT TO SCALE N
SOURCE: CITY OF SAN ANTONIO COMMUNITY IMPACT
The details
What else?
Edwards Aquifer Protection Program
Another issue with maintaining the Edwards Aquifer is water quality. Peace said the best way to protect this resource is for counties to pass impervious cover limit laws, which control the amount of land covered by impervious surfaces, such as buildings and roads. “Most of the growth is taking place in the unincorporated areas, and counties are extremely limited as to what they can do. Counties can pass an impervious cover limit, which we prescribe as the best water quality measure that we could adopt to protect our water supplies,” Peace said. Aquifer zones
To protect this resource, San Antonio city officials implemented the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program in 2000. Through the program, city officials use a ⅛-cent venue sales tax to purchase land in the recharge zone. Properties purchased by the city have been added to the Canyon State Natural Area and have been repurposed into parks, such as the Classen-Steubing Ranch Park in North San Antonio.
Conservation easement: legal agreement to protect land
Fee simple acquisition: Buying land
Parks
Acres
Acquired
Parks
Acres
Acquired
November 2002 April 2003 December 2003
Medallion
146
Crownridge
208
March 2001
Schuchart Tract
91
Iron Horse Ranch
594
March 2001
Woodland Hills
327
Rancho Diana
1,153
March 2001
Canyon Ranch
421
January 2005
Cedar Creek
240
May 2001
Dress/Laredo
September 2006
172
Culebra
Mayberry Tract
345
April 2002
Artesian zone: 11,965 acres
Ma-Be Canyon
461
April 2013
Ranch
Kallison Ranch
1,164
June 2002
December 2013
Contributing zone: 44,553 acres
Kosarek Tract
23
187,343 acres
Hampton Tract
50 October 2002
Classen-Steubing
November 2002
160 October 2016
Recharge zone: 130,825 acres
Medallion
146
Ranch
Eisenhower Tract
102
January 2020
SOURCE: CITY OF SAN ANTONIO/COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: CITY OF SAN ANTONIO/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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