From the cover
Farming's future
BY AMANDA CUTSHALL
What’s planned
How ASR projects work Treated water is stored underground in the aquifer and later recovered for use.
The ASR project would capture and treat water in Austin, send it through about 50 miles of underground pipeline to Bastrop, and inject it into the aquifer during wet periods. Austin Water would then retrieve and return it to Austin as needed. O cials began their site search in 2022, before narrowing it down to Travis, Lee or Bastrop County. Barbosa said they chose Bastrop due to its favorable geology, proximity to infrastructure and deep aquifer storage potential. “The city of Austin has available aquifers,” said Andres Rosales speaking as a resident during public comment at an April 28 council meeting. Rosales serves as the Bastrop Assistant City Manager. “Why not pursue those in the area where their constituents are a ected and not ours?” Austin Water spokesperson Emlea Chanslor said the Bastrop community would bene t from the project as they plan to leave at least 5% of the water deposited in the well and will not use eminent domain. Instead, they said they will compensate a ected Bastrop property owners either by leasing the land—allowing owners to stay—or by purchasing the property.
Key terms: Recharge zone: area where water seeps into the aquifer Bu er zone: area around the recharge zone to prevent contamination Well: a drilled hole used to inject or withdraw water Wellhead: houses and protects the top of the well and its equipment Recharge: process of adding water to an aquifer Recovery: extraction of stored water from the aquifer
First Austin Water treatment plant
Austin
Bastrop
Native groundwater
Second Austin Water treatment plant
Wellhead
Bu er zone
Well
Stored water
Recharge | Recovery
SOURCE: AUSTIN WATER COMMUNITY IMPACT
What else
What's next
The path to Austin’s ASR
Chanslor said Austin Water hopes to have a memorandum of understanding in place by the end of this summer. Around that same time, she said Austin Water will begin community engagement sessions to get feedback from Bastrop residents. The next phase is expected to begin in the fall and will include scientists taking water from the aquifer and combining it with Austin drinking water in a lab to study the reaction. Chanslor said the results will help o cials design treatment processes for the next phase, which will involve injecting Austin drinking water into the aquifer and studying the results. That phase should begin around 2031. Totten said under current state law, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is charged with the nal approval. However, Rep. Stan Gerdes, R-Smithville, introduced House Bill 1523, which aims to restrict TCEQ from authorizing the project in Bastrop. Both City Council and Carrillo- Trevino have publicly supported the bill. As of press time, the bill had passed through the House of Representatives and was under consideration by the Water, Agriculture, & Rural A airs Committee.
Despite assurances, the Bastrop community remains wary that the ASR project could lower groundwater levels, with concerns heightened by lingering memories of the 2023 drought, when well levels hit a nine-year low. Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland recalled months of countywide water conservation e orts. In response, Aqua Water Supply Corporation, a nonpro t utility based in Bastrop that serves 30,000 homes, farms, ranches and businesses, installed three monitoring wells to safeguard its water supply—100% of which is drawn from the aquifer. Jim Totten, general manager of the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, which ensures that local groundwater resources are protected, said community concern is understandable. “When you inject, you just don’t know what chemical reactions will occur between native and injected water without a lot of testing,” Totten said. Aqua WSC General Manager Dacy Cameron said they are not a formal partner in the project at this time; however, they will continue to “evaluate the available information and remain focused on the interests of members and the aquifer.”
Phase 1A Location scouting and stakeholder input
2022–25
Phase 1B Build a test well and study the reactions of the aquifer’s water with Austin drinking water in a lab
2025–28
Phase 2 Inject water similar to Austin drinking water into the test well and study the water quality, operational viability and other parameters
2028-31
Phase 3 Use the results to design and build all infrastructure, including wells, pipelines, treatment, pumping and storage
2031-41
SOURCE: AUSTIN WATER COMMUNITY IMPACT
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BASTROP CEDAR CREEK EDITION
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