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ONE WATER
"It's not about stopping growth. It's about doing it in a way that's really strategic and smart, so we continue to have this great quality of life.” — Nancy Pappas
The goal of the One Water initiative is to outline water conservation and preservation strategies between area entities. (Lauren Canterberry/Community Impact Newspaper)
New Braunfels Utilities, Area Officials Consider One Water Conservation Methods Amid Continued Rapid Growth in Central Texas
By Lauren Canterberry
January 12, 2022
January 12, 2022
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As the city of New Braunfels and the surrounding area continue to experience explosive population growth and related development, representatives from several local entities have begun plans to implement sweeping water conservation efforts.
In August 2019, officials from New Braunfels Utilities, the city of New Braunfels and the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority established the One Water team to identify methods to preserve local water resources, according to NBU officials. The team selected the One Water approach to create a roadmap to manage watersheds, waterways and groundwater in the New Braunfels area, said Nancy Pappas, managing director for the Headwaters at the Comal. One Water, as defined by the Water Research Foundation, is an integrated planning and implementation approach to managing finite water resources for long-term resiliency that meets the economic, community and ecosystem needs of a city or region. “You've got drinking water and it has its own set of regulations and design criteria and so does wastewater, stormwater, reuse water, all these different kinds of water. But the fact is, we all know that water is a cycle, and it's all integrated,” NBU CEP Ian Taylor said. “The concept behind One Water is that you optimize the full water cycle by bringing in everybody who has a role in managing and regulating planning for water and doing all that work together in one collaborative effort.” During a June board meeting, the NBU board of trustees moved to continue developing the One Water plan after reviewing a presentation from the team about some of the key objectives in the plan, said Sarah Richards, director of customer solutions for NBU. Some of the objectives include planning and managing water resources holistically and sustainably; improving the health of local watersheds and other water resources; and educating the public about water conservation and sustainability. |
The Headwaters at the Comal is working to educate the public about local water resources through a variety of programming and will continue to do so as the One Water plan moves forward, Pappas said.
Informing residents about residential and commercial conservation methods will be important as the community continues to grow, she said. “The Headwaters just looks forward to being a convening place for conversations around water and really educating the community about the opportunities we have here to maintain the beauty and the water resources,” Pappas said. “Water is a huge challenge in a growing community like this. ... It's not about stopping growth. It's about doing it in a way that's really strategic and smart, so we continue to have this great quality of life.” Implementation of the plan will require collaboration between the community, developers and officials to plan conservation strategies, design drainage plans and develop land use plans, according to NBU documents. The roadmap and its objectives will also need to be presented to the city and the GBRA before a committee is formed and officials begin working on tangible plans and initiatives, Richards said. While the discussions are primarily taking place between NBU, the city and the GBRA, Taylor said his team hopes other area entities will join the initiative as the project progresses. “[The effort is] important for us, No. 1 because we have the stewardship responsibility. We have access to the different water resources like the Edwards Aquifer, Comal and Guadalupe rivers and a number of others,” Taylor said. “And it's a finite resource. So obviously we want to manage that well not just for us, but for every generation that follows.” |
One Water: Blue Hole Primary School
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While COVID-19 dominates headlines in 2020, groundwater protection efforts in the Texas Hill Country are set to realize a tremendous success story when the first One Water school in Texas officially opens its doors for classes this fall! Blue Hole Primary School will serve the growing Hill Country communities of Wimberley and Woodcreek with one of the most water efficient and cost-effective approaches ever envisioned for a school campus in Texas.
One Water is a water planning and management approach that rethinks how water moves through and is used in a community; it brings stakeholders like developers, community leaders, urban planners, water managers and engineers together with the goal of utilizing water as thoughtfully and efficiently as possible. The school’s One Water design acknowledges the importance of protecting Wimberley’s sensitive water resources by managing all the water as a single resource that is sustainable and reusable. The One Water concept for the school, spearheaded by Nick Dornak, Director of Watershed Services for The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, and David Baker, Director of the Wimberley Valley Water Association (WVWA), was ratified by the Wimberley Independent School District (WISD) Board of Trustees in June 2019 with construction beginning shortly after in July. CONSERVATION STRATEGIES Blue Hole Primary School will utilize a variety of One Water strategies to reduce groundwater usage from the Trinity Aquifer by 90 percent when compared to traditional construction standards, thereby protecting groundwater that supplies crystal clear spring flows to Jacob’s Well, Blue Hole and Cypress Creek. It will incorporate best practices such as collecting rainwater and air conditioning condensate to flush toilets and irrigate landscaping and an onsite treatment and reuse system to beneficially reuse gray/black water produced by the school. Additional green stormwater infrastructure will comprise of permeable pavers, vegetated swales and rain gardens to highlight a 21st century approach to managing nonpoint source pollution from new developments. To complete the immersive, educational One Water experience for students, staff, and visitors, features such as clear pipes and signage will be built into the very architecture of Blue Hole Primary. IMPACT Blue Hole Primary School lies within Hays Trinity GCD, which provided a letter of support when the project was first proposed to WISD. “When faced with an ever-expanding population and limited water supply options in Hays County, it is critical that we protect our most valuable resources with an eye towards innovation – based on conservative management. Our healthy economy will require sustainable solutions, and community leaders in Wimberley Valley have taken a giant step in the right direction by instituting One Water practices in the new Blue Hole Primary School,” said Charlie Flatten, General Manager of Hays Trinity GCD. The new school will not only benefit the environment, but will also save money for WISD in the long-term. The district projects that it will save nearly $800,000 over the next 30 years in utilities as less water is being |
Subsurface drip irrigation field installation. Treated effluent and harvested rainwater will irrigate Blue Hole Primary School’s new athletic fields. Photo by Bob Farmer, AGCM
Installation of onsite treatment and reuse system will feature a low energy and highly efficient packed-bed recirculating gravel treatment system to polish black/gray water for irrigation. The system has been designed to meet Edwards Aquifer rules for nutrient reduction. Photo by Bob Farmer, AGCM
used to operate the school. The money saved can help the district employ additional staff and teachers, while keeping the district less dependent from outside water and energy resources.
Texas’ first One Water school will serve as a model for communities throughout the Texas Hill Country as well as a teaching tool to WISD students about the value of water conservation. The region will face enormous water challenges over the next 100 years and beyond, however Blue Hole Primary School will provide an important reminder that it is possible to balance the challenges of growth with the continued stewardship of our precious water resources. The project’s proponents would like to acknowledge that WVWA funded the engineering and design of the One Water infrastructure through a generous grant from the Harry L. Willett Foundation. Thanks also to the WISD Board of Trustees and Superintendent, Dwain York for their vision, as well as Joe Day, David Venhuizen, PE, O’Connell Robertson & Associates, Inc., Doucet & Associates, Inc., AGCM, Inc., WISD, WVWA and Meadows Center staff for their expertise and valuable contributions to this project. Thanks to Nick Dornak for his contributions to this feature. |
Texas Swimming Holes Need One Water
By Sarah Richards
Water Program Officer, The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
March 14, 2018
Water Program Officer, The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
March 14, 2018
The redbuds are blooming, a sure sign that spring is here with summer heat soon to follow. Summer heat means summer days filled with the gasps and laughter of children as they cannonball into cold, refreshing spring-fed swimming holes like Jacob’s Well, San Solomon Springs, or Barton Springs.
The future of our beloved Texas icons is in jeopardy as population growth and climate change stretch thin our precious water resources and complicate water management during our famous weather extremes. The current water management model in Texas does not adequately promote sustainable water management or, quite frankly, place a priority on sustaining the needs of our environment.
These challenges, however, are not unique to Texas.
Across the United States and throughout the world, community leaders, water planners, and policymakers are wrestling with how best to manage water to maximize economic growth and social equity without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Some are rethinking our traditional urban water management practices and working to advance a more resilient strategy called integrated water management, or One Water.
One Water promotes the management of all water within a specific geography — drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and greywater — as a single resource, a resource that must be managed holistically, viably and sustainably.
While a coordinated approach to development and management of water, land and related resources is not new, current policies and practices in Texas are severely out of sync. Clear leadership is needed to drive a paradigm shift.
The future of our beloved Texas icons is in jeopardy as population growth and climate change stretch thin our precious water resources and complicate water management during our famous weather extremes. The current water management model in Texas does not adequately promote sustainable water management or, quite frankly, place a priority on sustaining the needs of our environment.
These challenges, however, are not unique to Texas.
Across the United States and throughout the world, community leaders, water planners, and policymakers are wrestling with how best to manage water to maximize economic growth and social equity without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Some are rethinking our traditional urban water management practices and working to advance a more resilient strategy called integrated water management, or One Water.
One Water promotes the management of all water within a specific geography — drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and greywater — as a single resource, a resource that must be managed holistically, viably and sustainably.
While a coordinated approach to development and management of water, land and related resources is not new, current policies and practices in Texas are severely out of sync. Clear leadership is needed to drive a paradigm shift.
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation commissioned the report Advancing One Water in Texas to outline a path forward. For change-makers committed to our natural resources, I offer three observations about a One Water approach and invite you to learn more:
1. Community decisions, not utility decisions.
A One Water approach asks a community to consider and manage all water holistically. The days of feeding vast Texas lawns with pure, clean drinking water should be a practice of the past. Funneling stormwater into concrete culverts should stop as soon as possible and that water should be used to meet community water needs. And, municipal hierarchies that put the city water utility at the forefront of water supply decisions, independent of the stormwater manager or even the parks department or energy utility, should become a thing of the past.
Instead, a community, and all the city management branches that impact water, should consider all water available in their system and all water needs alongside one another.
2. Collaboration is the essential building block.
Under the current system of management, different streams of water are managed in almost complete isolation from one another. Collaboration across these silos is critical for making decisions that are truly in the best interest of the community and water resources. However, collaboration doesn’t come easily. It requires committed leadership, commonsense, political capital, a diversity of participants and institutions, plus the right supporting tools and techniques.
3. It’s not going to be easy, but if anyone can do it, Texans can.
A transition to a One Water approach and the collaboration it depends upon can be a challenging journey for our communities, but will yield big rewards. One Water is challenged by the inertia that comes with any systemic change, particularly a system that’s been the default practice for decades.
Yet it’s because of the leadership and tenacity of a few innovators that we see examples of One Water by state agencies and in cities across Texas. Texas is the national leader in water reuse. The State Water Implementation Fund of Texas, with its 20 percent conservation set-aside, puts real money on the table for conservation. The City of Austin is developing a 100-year integrated water resource plan; cities like Arlington and Mesquite are embracing green infrastructure in new and innovative ways; and Fort Worth is taking resource recovery to new heights.
1. Community decisions, not utility decisions.
A One Water approach asks a community to consider and manage all water holistically. The days of feeding vast Texas lawns with pure, clean drinking water should be a practice of the past. Funneling stormwater into concrete culverts should stop as soon as possible and that water should be used to meet community water needs. And, municipal hierarchies that put the city water utility at the forefront of water supply decisions, independent of the stormwater manager or even the parks department or energy utility, should become a thing of the past.
Instead, a community, and all the city management branches that impact water, should consider all water available in their system and all water needs alongside one another.
2. Collaboration is the essential building block.
Under the current system of management, different streams of water are managed in almost complete isolation from one another. Collaboration across these silos is critical for making decisions that are truly in the best interest of the community and water resources. However, collaboration doesn’t come easily. It requires committed leadership, commonsense, political capital, a diversity of participants and institutions, plus the right supporting tools and techniques.
3. It’s not going to be easy, but if anyone can do it, Texans can.
A transition to a One Water approach and the collaboration it depends upon can be a challenging journey for our communities, but will yield big rewards. One Water is challenged by the inertia that comes with any systemic change, particularly a system that’s been the default practice for decades.
Yet it’s because of the leadership and tenacity of a few innovators that we see examples of One Water by state agencies and in cities across Texas. Texas is the national leader in water reuse. The State Water Implementation Fund of Texas, with its 20 percent conservation set-aside, puts real money on the table for conservation. The City of Austin is developing a 100-year integrated water resource plan; cities like Arlington and Mesquite are embracing green infrastructure in new and innovative ways; and Fort Worth is taking resource recovery to new heights.
