The following program is supported by the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

The people of San Antonio always had a special relationship with water indigenous people for thousands of years.

Early settlers.

They came here because the water was readily available.

It was clean, clear, and it was special.

Water was always the drawing point here, but the remarkable story about the Edwards Aquifer Authority is we were born out of this swirl of chaos and conflict, battling with the farmers to the west, battling with the city of San Antonio, battling with the springs.

The catfish farm, the infamous catfish farm was the largest artesian well in the world, reduced the levels of the aquifer all over San Antonio.

That really woke people up.

The fountain daughter.

Endangered species.

People fighting over what to do about the aquifer created the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

And really, it's protected the aquifer.

It's protected our communities, it's protected our economies, and it's protected all of the wildlife.

But the reality is we have to keep at it because there's a lot of population growth, new demands, new challenges to a work that never is fully done.

Every morning before the sun comes up, before we say our first hello, one essential resource is quietly moving through our lives water.

It's so constant, so dependable we barely notice it's there.

It pours into coffee cups.

It fills fountains.

It runs through kitchens, in classrooms and businesses.

It shapes our rivers, our springs, our communities, and our way of life.

Now imagine that water is gone.

Not forever.

Just for one day.

Families improvise.

Schools struggle.

Businesses and services slow or stop.

And no spring flow.

Feeding the rivers that define this region.

In emergencies, water isn't a convenience, it's a lifeline.

Just one day without water, the ordinary becomes the impossible and everything changes.

Now that's a hypothetical day.

Of course, we hope never happens, but the conditions behind it are all too real.

This region has faced severe drought and strain, and there have been moments when the balance might have tipped.

So how do we ensure there's water in our future?

Fortunately, there is a positive story to tell.

A future without water here was a real possibility, were it not for the creation of the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

Its job is to protect a hidden world just below us.

The Edwards Aquifer is a vast and ancient maze of rock and flowing water, a place most of us never see, but all of us depend on.

It stretches about 180 miles from Uvalde County to Hays County, supplying 2.5 million people with water.

Much of it is like a huge underground box, honeycombed inside with water and limestone, and almost entirely in case, by harder stone or clay, except for the recharge zone, where there's not a real top to that box.

Here, rainwater slips into the earth and finds cracks in the limestone to help refill or recharge the aquifer.

At least some.

The average is so unique, you know it's a big car stock.

It still has a lot of really, really clean water in it.

Cars refers to a body of rock that is soluble in water, right?

So soluble rock at the surface.

It allows for rapid infiltration.

But the amazing thing about a cast aquifer like the Edwards is it responds very quickly to these big recharge events.

Other aquifer types.

You can get a big rain.

It does not recharge much at all.

So it's really beneficial to all of us to have a system that's responsive to big rainfall events.

And now the biggest area of that aquifer system is not actually underground.

It's 5400mi² of land farther up in the hill country called the contributing zone.

The water from creeks and rivers here flows downstream over hard impermeable rock.

Then as that water crosses through the recharge zone and its softer and fractured limestone, it contributes about 80% of the aquifers recharge.

As for what's called the artesian zone of the aquifer, it's generally the farthest south and the deepest underground.

Water from the recharge zone in the higher elevations flows down with a force of gravity into this confined space, creating pressure artesian aquifers just under pressure.

That's what it means.

So the more water if you think of we're sitting here on the recharge zone, then think of far southern Bexar County, which is about 30 miles away.

The elevation here is well over 1000ft above sea level, southern side of Bexar County.

It's probably about 500ft above sea level, so there's 500ft of pressure pushing down on that water, which gives it momentum or gives it energy to rise up.

So once you punch through that, say with a well, now you give that water somewhere to go, it's going to rise up in that well, it can rise up in wells or in natural springs, basically cracks or natural holes in the limestone, like here at Comal and San Marcos Springs, the largest spring systems in the southwestern U.S.

these spring systems are some of the oldest inhabited springs in the United States.

We found artifacts going back 13,000 years.

And so to still have these springs flowing in Texas, despite our extreme drought, is very special.

To be able to not only see it, but also enjoy these spring systems.

So water here isn't just a resource, it's woven throughout our history.

It's the reason springs exist at all, and why rivers still run clear where you might not expect them to.

It shapes how we live, what we love, and it connects us to the land and to each other.

But in the years before the Edwards Aquifer Authority was established, the certainty of water here was not guaranteed.

When you figure out that you could drill into the Edwards and start to use water to irrigate crops in a semi-arid region, that really exponentially started to see an impact.

A long, severe drought in the 1950s started to cause real worry, which the area's growth only intensified.

Then, in 1991, it all came to a head with this massive gusher of a well in southwest Bexar County.

A man named Ronnie Pugh drilled it for his catfish farm, and that triggered the real water wars.

Everyone took note because you started to see a decline in the aquifer.

Anytime you turned that pump on that one, artesian well on its own could bring up 40 to 45 million gallons a day, about 15 billion gallons a year.

That's equal to about a quarter of San Antonio's entire water usage at the time.

And at the time, under the laws of the state, that was perfectly legal.

Texas was working under the rule of capture.

So if you had a well, you could use as much groundwater as you wanted to.

Anybody had the right to pump water out of there.

The catfish form, you could have had 10 or 20 of them by now.

And so lawsuits, debate, discussion, political, political lines drawn.

Those political or battle lines generally pitted farmers against areas.

Farmers wanted no limits on the water for irrigation, and cities like San Antonio needed a guaranteed water supply.

But other groups were also involved.

Conservationists were suing to protect endangered species and their habitats in the canal and San Marcos springs, while many in San Marcos and New Braunfels were fighting to make sure their water related tourism didn't dry up, and finally, communities downstream joined the battle as they depend, at least in part, on river water fed by the springs.

In the end, while well had triggered it all, it was the Sierra Club's lawsuit over endangered species that finally forced action by the state, and many people were still not happy.

First, it was anger because the federal judge said he was going to take over the aquifer and put limits on it because of the threat to the endangered species.

But the more that I began to get involved with, the more I understood we really needed to do that.

We were to over pump the aquifer.

The species were just caught in the middle and were a convenient way to bring everybody to the table through litigation.

And then the less but it happened.

It was it was effective.

It was an avenue to do the right things because of other reasons, really and truly was not the bottom issue.

It was trying to preserve this aquifer.

And to do that, state lawmakers created the Edwards Aquifer Authority, a guardian for the water beneath us, and gave the agency certain powers that no other groundwater conservation district in the state has.

Primarily, it put in place a pumping cap.

It required metering and permits for all use, and it also prohibited water from the Edwards to be exported outside our jurisdictional boundaries.

But there were still many challenges for the aquifer authority establishing just who should get permits and how much they could pump, led to even more conflicts.

The legislature put in place what we call a historical use process, and so anyone that owned a well, we allowed you to show your maximum use of year.

And we tried to permit you your historical use.

And that became impossible by the amount of applications that came in.

So we went back to the legislature and a deal was struck in 2007.

That deal raised the cap on the total amount of water that can be pumped out of the aquifer and at the same time protect the endangered species.

First, it required the authority to create its critical period management plan.

Basically, it's pumping limits in critical periods of drought.

Stage one kicks in when the aquifer drops below 660ft above sea level.

That cuts the permit holders maximum allowed pumping by 20%.

Then by stage five, when the aquifer drops below 625ft, the pumping is cut by 44%, and lawmakers also required the authority to come up with a habitat conservation plan.

It aligns how they protect the spring flows and habitats of the endangered species at the San Marcos Springs, and that plan also had to be approved by federal officials.

That was accomplished by the end of 2013.

And so most of the controversies and what people refer to as the the water wars over the Edwards were, were kind of put to bed and the agency could focus, focus on managing and enhancing and protecting the Edwards overall.

And those three words managing, enhancing and protecting are the aquifer authorities mission.

It means balancing the needs of a growing region with the limits of nature, and that includes everything from tracking water levels and quality to enforcing those pumping limits when necessary.

So the challenge has been that the way that we regulate, we regulate the permit holder, for example, saw us we do not regulate the general public.

In other words, you have your water use at your house.

We don't set lawn watering restrictions when you can water how you can water source or your water utility.

Whomever it is will tell you that.

And while the authority can find or sue those who over pump, it focuses on cooperation, for example, helping farmers adopt more efficient irrigation methods.

We're not in the business of finding somebody.

We're in the business of helping you find a way to stay in compliance with your permit.

We can help them with conservation to educate someone on the dangers of an abandoned well, to try to find ways to help them close that well properly, as opposed to finding money from a penalty perspective.

We also seek to partner with with the people that we actually regulate through conservation incentives, through trying to find ways that they can themselves take ownership.

One of their incentives for farmers is called the Voluntary Irrigation Suspension Program.

For those who signed up, if the aquifer is below 630ft on October 1st, they'll get paid not to irrigate the following spring.

The reason we do it that way is because an irrigator needs to know how much water is going to be available to them the following year, so they can make plans on what crops they're going to grow, what seeds are going to purchase, if they need to get fertilizer or not.

We're not interested in telling a farmer how to use their farm.

We're interested in reducing the overall demand on the aquifer.

We've gone from just a regulatory body that's viewed as a heavy handed, draconian type of institution to one that is actually here to be a resource.

We've turned the tide so much.

I think people look to us and invite us onto their property and say, hey, I've got a question about my will.

Can you come look?

The authority also monitors what are called water rights owned by the permit holders.

They allow someone to pump a certain amount of water, and those rights can be sold or leased to anyone else over the aquifer.

In the early days, of lot of farmers had excess water and they were able to sell it to municipal use, remember, because what the statute said, it put a cap on it.

It said you can't export it outside this region.

And because the Edwards itself is so conducive to movement of water through it as a natural system, you can have a permit in Uvalde County and you can sell it or lease it to someone in Bexar County, and then they have the right to withdraw that water from their will.

There's no need for pipelines.

The Edwards serves as a pipeline and natural pipeline, and it's facilitated the development of this water market to where that water market has been able to sustain the growth that we've seen here in the region over the past 20 years or so.

The authority has also worked hard since the beginning to foster a strong water conservation ethic across the area.

The need for conservation was highlighted with a special sense of urgency by lawmakers back when they created it.

EAA in the 90s.

That's when they warned everyone to expect even stricter pumping limits to come in 2008.

Turns out that did not happen.

But that early warning and all of the EA work stressing conservation made a big difference.

At least the hard decisions were already made about investing in a recycled water system, investing in conservation, investing in underground storage of water.

And so now we are in a situation where because of that, we've protected that foundation that we rely on, which is Edwards water, while the Edwards will always be our water foundation, utilities like the San Antonio Water System are also adding other water sources as our region grows, including its Vista Ridge pipeline from central Texas, plus other partners of EA, including the city of San Antonio.

And conservation groups are trying to conserve as much land over the recharge zone as possible, keeping it in its native state through purchases, donations and conservation easements.

We're not anti development, but the more properties you can maintain in their native state, natural state with good vegetation and soil conditions, the better your chances of avoiding bad stuff from getting into the aquifer.

So those are all non regulatory type of practices and programs that I think are at the forefront of our future for research component of what we do.

Being rooted in science is so important.

Mark Hamilton showed me around the aquifer authorities Field Research Park, 150 acres of a kind of living laboratory right over the recharge zone on San Antonio's north side.

Those probes tell us things like, well, what's the temperature down there?

What's the conductivity?

What's the water potential of the soil?

What's the moisture content of the soil there?

Cutting edge research uses tools like electrical resistivity tomography or T. You induce a little bit of a current.

Dry soil does not conduct electricity very well.

Wet soil does.

Understanding exactly how water moves in the soil and into and through the aquifer can help them understand what the aquifer needs to stay healthy, not just for today, but for generations.

The better we understand how the system works, the better equipped we will be to manage the system.

But what's underground is very complex.

And a good example of some of these wells out here with this rain that we've just had.

Some of these wells came up 70ft, some of them came up two feet.

So that's a really interesting thing to think about.

Well, this wells not on the same flow path in the subsurface.

Is this well over here.

Why is that.

And how do we understand that.

And that data is critically important for well, how much pumping is enough or how many aquifers this low.

How much can we safely withdraw.

And they're also testing different native plans and simple structures, including berms and rock and brush dams.

And we're trying to quantify exactly how much they can slow runoff from heavy rains.

I like to think of these as this is a big speed bump for water as too much, too fast, and all of it cannot recharge the aquifer.

There's a point at which the velocities in the streams are so high that you know you can't infiltrate that water at the same rate that it's running off.

So if we had conceivably and theoretically, if we had enough of these structures in the right places and we can slow down that run off a little bit more, we might effectively see some enhanced recharge.

We would probably definitely see improved water quality.

Right, because we're going to reduce sediment loads.

And with all the different things that you've done, especially in this area, how big a difference has it made?

Things made a substantial difference.

What we've seen today, pretty significant reduction in sediment load in our runoff, say up to 60 to 80%.

And that's important because sediment can cling to all kinds of things we don't want in our water bacteria, other types of contaminants, whether it's, you know, metals or something else.

Slowing runoff also reduces erosion and other problems it can cause, potentially plugging up features that act as recharge features for the Edwards Aquifer.

And much of the research is focused on finding practical steps all of us can take, whether we live over the recharge zone or not.

That's a huge part of it, is understanding which practice works best in what setting, so you don't have to use so much water on your yard.

Collectively, it makes a difference, and the authority is also leading efforts to make a difference right in the habitats of those endangered species.

At the Comal and San Marcos Springs.

The water is so clear, especially if you come out in the morning, it is just crystal clear.

It is truly stunning and special.

We're very fortunate to have the Edwards Aquifer for that spring flow that flows through the limestone and comes out cool, 72 degrees and clear year round.

And while it is to drought conditions, we do have decreased flows during extreme drought.

We also have done habitat restoration to ensure that what is flowing is protected during those extreme drought conditions.

These are the very fragile ecosystems of some special little critters.

So the species that we have predominantly are the fountain darter.

It's a fish.

It doesn't have a swim bladder.

It can't float in the water.

So it just kind of hops along the bottom of the river.

And it's really cute.

And it really requires aquatic vegetation for shelter from predatory fish.

We also have three salamanders, several endangered beetles, and endangered Texas wild rice also live only in these springs, where the authority and its partners have been working for years to restore natural conditions, many years coming out to the river and removing non-native plants, planting our native plants within the water, as well as in the riparian zones between the water's edge, and then up a little bit further and ask for those questions like, why should we even care about endangered species?

Or how does a salamander affect my life?

Well, for one thing, we used to call them canaries in the coal mine.

Now we call them indicator species.

They indicate the health of the system.

They're in the same water that we are drinking.

So if something happens to the Texas blind salamander, if something's wrong with their environment, with their water, we could be next.

So we keep a close eye on those endangered species, because as long as those ecosystems are healthy, our ecosystem is going to be healthy.

And what we are still learning about these species just might benefit all of us directly in the future.

Texas blind salamanders as well as other salamanders.

If they lose a limb, they can actually regenerate a whole new limb as well as their tails.

So we're learning about those aspects of the species, and that could potentially benefit future science.

And it's not a matter of them or us.

The aquifer Authority is also making sure we can enjoy these areas at the same time.

They're protecting those species.

We value that, you know, recreation access, which is why we've actually paid for recreation access points like the one behind me.

We've spent almost $1 million installing access points in the San Marcos spring systems, while we've also been fencing off the riparian areas.

So we've been identifying target recreation zones that we allow people to enter the river while also protecting other parts of the river.

And it has really helped us protect that habitat and improved water quality.

There's less erosion as those native plants have come in and established, and you can still tube through there.

You can still tube through there.

Look, there's another one in there and one more part of the aquifer.

Authorities work, and maybe it's most important in the future is education.

I like to say that people won't take care of something unless they understand it.

So it's our job to help people understand the Edwards Aquifer so that they can better take care of it.

Sarah Valdez oversees their education efforts, much of it now in their own education outreach center, right next to their field research park.

I started about 22 years ago.

We really try to get out into the schools, into as many school classrooms as we could.

So we would load up the van and we would drive everywhere from Uvalde to San Marcos.

Now that we have this facility, we're reaching a ton of people and not only more people, but a greater diversity of people, too.

And so they're learning different things about the Edwards aquifer, about geology, about the plants, about the water, about everything that's involved in the Edwards Aquifer.

And everyone is welcome.

So you can make a reservation, drive on down, give us a call.

We'll help you get here.

They can come around and just look and enjoy the space on their own time at their own pace.

Or we have school programs.

And so a school program is a little bit more structured.

We try to mirror a lot of the science that's being done right next door at the Field Research Park.

So, you know, we are learning from them.

And so we bring all of that science here, and we bring it down to a level where people can actually understand.

So we try to make science accessible no matter where what stage you're at.

They also show off their stars.

Oh, I think, you know, the majority of people love seeing the Critter Center in the Edwards Aquifer.

That's a favorite.

And so we have a whole presentation about endangered species.

What does it mean to be endangered?

What is a habitat?

What do you need for a good habitat.

And they teach about native plants and how they can help all of us save water.

Plus, that fragile nature of the recharge zone is a big part of the story.

Where there are parking lots and roads over it, there's a higher risk of pollution that you should make sure you dispose of oil and paint properly, and fertilize only as needed.

And kids learn the important lessons that even picking up litter and after your pets can help things that they don't know we need them.

We need the future to step up.

What began with early maps and simple tools has become one of the most advanced groundwater protection systems in the nation.

This work is steady, disciplined, and most of the time it happens quietly.

But it has protected some very powerful things stability, safety and predictability.

It used to be every so many headlines was, well, we're not going to get this company to come here because we don't have the water, we don't have the water, we don't have the water.

That argument went on for a long time.

You don't hear that anymore.

Irrespective of whatever alternative water supplies come into the region, the Edwards will always be the primary source, will always be the foundational source of water.

And ultimately, the legislature landed on the solution that created the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

That framework has given us now the tremendous certainty and predictability that we can have around this water resource.

And it's sustained, I think, a key sustainer of the region's economic viability over those many years.

And I think we have an economic future because the Edwards has been taken care of.

We struck a balance in the Edwards.

But with the ongoing challenges, including drought and growth, they need all our health.

We depend on the community.

We depend on people caring.

We depend on people wanting to know.

We depend on, you know, everybody working together.

And so I think, you know, if anything worries me, it's a lack of interest.

Even if you don't live on a recharge zone, if you're relying on that aquifer, the Edwards Aquifer, for your water supply, everything you do still makes a difference.

If if you reduce your water, use just a little bit and your 2 million neighbors did too, well, that gets us through the next drought a little bit easier.

You can say, we're all in this together as we celebrate.

So the EA continues to build and strengthen partnerships with farmers and ranchers, with cities and educators, with families and scientists.

We're always going to do the regulatory part, but there's a tremendous amount of work to do in the non regulatory world, educating and working with people as partners, collaborative type approaches.

And there's people moving in all the time.

And so they need to know where we get our drinking water and how they can protect it too if they're going to be part of the water story here.

And so we're kind of reteaming and reteaming, and one of the most important lessons in South Texas is about rainfall and drought.

Yeah.

Just because things look green and wet today does not mean that you are out of a drought.

I got to tell you, this drought that we've been in since around 2021 or so up to now in terms of intensity, really looks even worse than the drought of the 50s and the fact that the springs were not in jeopardy.

People still had water to turn their faucets on.

News, business and industry continued to thrive.

And here we are.

With the aquifer still being healthy and robust for everyone.

And so I think that's the proof in the pudding.

That's the testament to to the work that's been done.

But it's also work that never is fully done.

That work of the Edwards Aquifer Authority is making sure that the day without water we had imagined never comes.

But it's up to all of us in 30 years or 50 years or 100 years, if we have still have really clean water in that aquifer, if we still have a sustainable supply of water, and if people understand the value of that water, I think we've done our job.

Guardian is a good word to describe what we do with guarding something precious to the region, but we're not limiting our prohibiting its use in the sense that we're locking it up and putting away.

Our mission is very balanced.

So it's that balance between conservation and maximizing its use.

It's what we do.

Supported by the Edwards Aquifer Authority.