BY JARRETT WHITENER
What’s being done
Should the city need to increase water capacity to serve residents, options available include the purchase of regional water and the expansion of reclaimed water or treated wastewater systems. Mann said pulling water from a regional source would be costly, considering regional utilities are also facing drought conditions, which can lead to a higher demand. The largest upcoming water-related project is the $20 million expansion of the treatment facility at Boerne Lake, which the city has allocated $2.75 million toward so far.
“If we make the investment to expand the reclaimed water system now to the areas that aren’t served by it, we can ensure future growth in that system,” council member Quinten Scott said. Council member Joseph Macaluso said the city’s responsibility is to ensure that residents within the city’s utility have access to water. “We cannot be a regional utility provider for 78006 and the regional ZIP codes. We just don’t have the resources for that,” Macaluso said.
Budgeted funds for water Water Reclaimed water
$379K
$1.590M
$6.704M Total
$10.14M Total
$6.325M
$8.550M
FY 2024-25
FY 2025-26
SOURCE: CITY OF BOERNE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Diving deeper
The outlook
Mann said the city is limited by the state on how much water it can pull from the lake due to conservation efforts. When drought conditions occur, city offi- cials ask residents to conserve water usage to ensure future availability. A contributing factor to conservation efforts is the utilization of reclaimed water. While surface water made up around 72% of the water distributed in 2024, groundwater made up 15% and reclaimed water made up 13%. The use of reclaimed water instead of potable water led to the conservation of around 156 million gallons in 2024. “Without reclaimed water, we would already be short right now,” Mann said.
During the March 11 City Council meeting, Boerne staff presented four scenarios for city growth and water demand, projecting when the city could run out of its existing water supply.
Existing supplies
Existing supplies with support from Canyon Lake
Scenario 1: High population growth-high water use
Scenario 2: High population growth-low water use
Scenario 3: Low population growth-high water use
Scenario 4: Low population growth-low water use
2050 Year
2030
2070
2040
2060
SOURCE: CITY OF BOERNE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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BOERNE - FAIR OAKS RANCH EDITION
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