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UNDER OUR LAND
"Caves are whimsical things, and geology on a local scale is random and unpredictable." — William Stone
Frank Dietz, Comal County resident
CCCA Board Member
Herald Zeitung monthly columnist
Under Our Land: Such Gifts!
June 20, 2021
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Our Comal County and surrounding Hill Country region are the beneficiaries of marvelous under land sources of water and adventure! The Edwards and Trinity Aquifers are the primary source for wondrous fresh waters for community and private wells as well as Springs that flow with freshness.
It was about sixteen years ago that a discovery journey began with a series of young grandchildren. We took regular trips south to San Antonio’s Witte Museum. Prior to exploring displays and exhibits of interest and playing at the HEB adventure along the river, we regularly (sometimes twice in a visit!) went to the little theater where the Edwards Aquifer Authority exhibit invited viewers into an excursion into and through the aquifer. Quite imaginatively we were introduced to subterranean life beneath the surface as well as explanations as to the filters that brought surface waters into the great dynamic underground. Other adventures helping them “connect the dots” were to springs and sights to prompt the imagination so vivid in young curious minds. Back at the ranch, we’d walk about to observe the wells and places where karsts exhibited natural drainage toward the great aquifer that we were getting to know. We took note of drainage patterns and discussed the variety of rainfall that came to gently get soaked into the fields and pastures or the rush of rising creek beds we usually hiked through when mostly dry. Requests at quiet time or before bed created imaginative adventures in some of the caves near or far. Those were fed by explorations when age appropriate to nearby offerings as well. The San Marcos Springs glass bottom boats became another favorite. As the youngsters of those adventure days have gotten on with school and years of activities and discoveries, it is interesting the links made to those early adventures. Science reports, projects, art, water conservation and |
protection, adventure stories about “the down under land” amaze. The grandfather gets pleased when the recognitions about the values of our natural environment get reiterated and discussed.
I’ve enjoyed pointing toward the adventures of caverns open for exploration or a trek through the Gorge at Canyon Lake. Swims in the wading pool or the spring-fed pool at Landa Park establish the connection to all the gifts under our land. Fishing and floating become a natural follow-up as the years unfold as well. Serious discourse about protecting the water sources comes with age and learning. So, too, the vast yet to be discovered stories and marvels of caves that remain a secret or for later discovery and exploration. I’ve painfully avoided discussion of reports where karsts and caves have served for convenient landfill purposes. Hopefully, uninformed usages that would threaten the waters so needed as life source will be prevented! As we discuss early and later adventures and discoveries about all under our Hill Country land, it becomes easy to make the case with our young enthusiasts to become protectors and enhancers of all that flows! The future is promising as a cherished sense of natural gifts strengthens and broadens. Some will want to take note of the upcoming Speleological gathering to be hosted this fall in San Marcos for global adventurers. Others might find A THIRSTY LAND by Seamus McGraw informative and inviting for keener engagement in assuring our future has good waters. An imaginative adventure is offered by the amazing writer, Robert Macfarlane, whose book, UNDERLAND: A Deep Time Journey, ties monumental geological features to historic and current exploring. |
Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District: The Trinity Aquifer
Edwards & Trinity Aquifers EDNA
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BACKGROUND
Recently discovered near the Lower Pedernales River, this salamander species is a member of the Eurycea genus and will be part of the eDNA study. The Edwards-Trinity aquifer system directly or indirectly provides water supplies for every city from Del Rio to Salado, as well as the baseflow for every river from the Rio Grande to the Brazos. From its inaccessible and submerged labyrinth of tunnels, caverns and crevasses to its spring orifices, it also provides habitat for species found nowhere else and protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). While much depends on these aquifers, little is known about the species living in the submerged world beneath the Interstate 35 corridor. There are catfish living a thousand feet below the sidewalks of San Antonio. There are invertebrates biologists have never recorded. Of the relatively well-studied species, like the endangered salamanders of Austin’s Barton Springs, basic information remains unknown, such as their full range. Why this work matters Environmental DNA (eDNA) could change this situation; that is why the Comptroller’s office is funding this work. Every species in the aquifer system leaves a trace of themselves in the water – fragments of DNA discarded when they shed, defecate, mate, give birth or die. These fragments can be picked up as easily as taking water from a swimming hole or a groundwater well. In 2019, with a grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Dr. David Hillis’ lab at the University of Texas at Austin proved eDNA could be collected and used to identify the salamander species it came from. Withadditional funding from the Natural Resources Program, Hillis and members of his lab – Ruben Tovar and Tom Devitt – and Andy Gluesenkamp from San Antonio Zoo will develop tools to establish an accurate, affordable and easily |
repeatable methodology to evaluate eDNA from all the known salamanders living in the aquifer system.
Coordinating with biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and TPWD, Hillis’ lab will process samples from wells, caves and springs across the Edwards Aquifer region to establish the range of these species. In the lab, the biologists will create a library of eDNA samples spanning the full range of the aquifer to support future research on other aquifer species. All data and methodologies developed under the contract will be free and made available to the public. Collecting a large baseline of samples across the entire system will enable future researchers to monitor changes in the aquifer ecosystem; consequently, the Edwards Aquifer may become a little less mysterious. DELIVERABLES DUE AT CONTRACT'S END, DEC. 31, 2023
A complicating factor to groundwater management is that most major aquifers overlap and there are several minor aquifers that are relevant for regional planning as well. For these reasons, some GCDs are in more than one GMA and must participate in multiple distinct regional planning processes. |
Trinity Aquifer
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ACQUIFER FACTS
SUMMARY The Trinity Aquifer is a major aquifer that extends across much of the central and northeastern part of the state. It is composed of several smaller aquifers contained within the Trinity Group. Although referred to differently in different parts of the state, they include the Antlers, Glen Rose, Paluxy, Twin Mountains, Travis Peak, Hensell, and Hosston aquifers. These aquifers consist of limestones, sands, clays, gravels, and conglomerates. Their combined freshwater saturated thickness averages about 600 feet in North Texas and about 1,900 feet in Central Texas. In general, groundwater is fresh but very hard in the outcrop of the aquifer. Total dissolved solids increase from less than 1,000 milligrams per liter in the east and southeast to between 1,000 and 5,000 milligrams per liter, or slightly to moderately saline, as the depth to the aquifer increases. Sulfate and chloride concentrations also tend to increase with depth. The aquifer is one of the most extensive and highly used groundwater resources in Texas. Although its primary use is for municipalities, it is also used for irrigation, livestock, and other domestic purposes. Some of the state's largest water level declines, ranging from 350 to more than 1,000 feet, have occurred in counties along the IH-35 corridor from McLennan County to Grayson County. These declines are primarily attributed to municipal pumping, but they have slowed over the past decade as a result of increasing reliance on surface water. |
Trinity Aquifer
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2021 National Cave & Karst Management Symposium
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When: Monday, November 1, 2021 to Friday, November 5, 2021
Where: San Marcos, Texas, United States Contact: Jim "Crash" Kennedy, Chair 2021 NCKMS Nov 1-5, 2021-2021 National Cave and Karst Management Symposium (NCKMS 2021) will be held in San Marcos, TX, part of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Featuring Dale Pate, NPS National Cave and Karst Program Coordinator from 2007 to 2017 and Cave Specialist for Carlsbad Caverns National Park from 1991 to 2002, to speak at the banquet. |
Learn about "Endangered Species, Endangered Caves, Endangered Aquifers."
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A Thirsty Land: The Making of an American Water Crisis
Seamus McGraw, author
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By Seamus McGraw
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As a changing climate threatens the whole country with deeper droughts and more furious floods that put ever more people and property at risk, Texas has become a bellwether state for water debates. Will there be enough water for everyone? Is there the will to take the steps necessary to defend ourselves against the sea? Is it in the nature of Americans to adapt to nature in flux?
The most comprehensive―and comprehensible―book on contemporary water issues, A Thirsty Land delves deep into the challenges faced not just by Texas, but by the nation as a whole, as we struggle to find a way to balance the changing forces of nature with our own ever-expanding needs. Part history, part science, part adventure story, and part travelogue, this book puts a human face on the struggle to master that most precious and capricious of resources, water. |
Seamus McGraw goes to the taproots, talking to farmers, ranchers, business people, and citizen activists, as well as politicians and government employees. Their stories provide chilling evidence that Texas―and indeed the nation―is not ready for the next devastating drought, the next catastrophic flood.
Ultimately, however, A Thirsty Land delivers hope. This deep dive into one of the most vexing challenges facing Texas and the nation offers glimpses of the way forward in the untapped opportunities that water also presents. |
Underland: A Deep Time Journey
Robert Macfarlane, author
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By Robert Macfarlane
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Hailed as "the great nature writer of this generation" (Wall Street Journal), Robert Macfarlane is the celebrated author of books about the intersections of the human and the natural realms. In Underland, he delivers his masterpiece: an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself.
In this highly anticipated sequel to his international bestseller The Old Ways, Macfarlane takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Traveling through “deep time”―the dizzying expanses of geologic time that stretch away from the present―he moves from the birth of the universe to a post-human future, from the prehistoric art of Norwegian sea caves to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacomb labyrinth below Paris, and from the underground fungal networks through which trees communicate to a deep-sunk “hiding place” where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come. Woven |
through Macfarlane’s own travels are the unforgettable stories of descents into the underland made across history by explorers, artists, cavers, divers, mourners, dreamers, and murderers, all of whom have been drawn for different reasons to seek what Cormac McCarthy calls “the awful darkness within the world.”
Global in its geography and written with great lyricism and power. Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. Taking a deep-time view of our planet, Macfarlane here asks a vital and unsettling question: “Are we being good ancestors to the future Earth?” Underland marks a new turn in Macfarlane’s long-term mapping of the relations of landscape and the human heart. From its remarkable opening pages to its deeply moving conclusion, it is a journey into wonder, loss, fear, and hope. At once ancient and urgent, this is a book that will change the way you see the world. |
Texas Through Time
Thomas E Ewing, author
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Sample page of Texas Through Time
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By Thomas E Ewing
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Noted geoscientist and author Thomas E. Ewing, with contributions by a range of Bureau geoscientists, guides you in an exploration of the landscapes, rocks, and resources of Texas and 1.7 billion years of Earth history. Visit the ancient rocks of the Llano and Van Horn areas—the legacy of now-eroded Himalaya-type ranges that initially rose over 1 billion years ago. Marvel at the giant West Texas Basin, so prolific in oil and gas, and at the enigmatic Marathon and Ouachita Mountains.
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Watch North America separate from the supercontinent Pangea and create the enclosed, salt-rich Gulf of Mexico in its wake. Discover the vast carbonate platform that today makes up the Edwards Plateau and Texas Hill Country. And witness the complex story of mountain building, uplift, and delta building that formed today's Texas landscapes. Special chapters consider Texas mineral resources and geologic hazards, as well as the impact of geology on human settlement over the last 15,000 years
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Great Geological Places to Visit in Texas Hill County
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Natural Bridge Caverns
Adventure never grows old. Thankfully, at Natural Bridge Caverns has things to do for all ages and enough of it to have you coming back for more. If you haven’t visited lately, you’re in for a treat. We’re more than just a cave. Here’s a quick overview of our tours and attractions, whether you’re a young spelunker-in-training, an experienced caver, a thrill-seeker, or maybe just someone who enjoys a good glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade. CAVERN TOURS They have five cavern tour experiences to choose from, from the original and most-popular, Discovery Tour, a walking tour fit for everyone, to the Hidden Passages Adventure Tour, for the more daring ages 13 and up where they embark on a 3-4 hour journey crawling though narrow passages in authentic caving gear and headlamp. Adventure tours are by reservation only and not for the faint of heart. If you’re an early bird, take the very first tour of the day on the Lantern Tour. Explore the Natural Bridge Cavern's Discovery Passages illuminated only by the light of your cave lantern, just like the original discoverers did decades ago. SURFACE ATTRACTIONS Twisted Trails is the newest attraction – a six-story Sky Adventure Course. Take on four levels and 50 challenges for both children and adults, with activities like steppingstones, a weave walk, and a rolling log. The new Twisted Trails Tykes is a smaller version of the Twisted Trail course allowing pint-sized adventure seekers, four-feet-tall-and-under to experience the adventure of the larger course. Twisted Trails Tykes will include a Sky Rail dedicated just for them, less than three feet from the ground. Speaking of kiddos, one of the most popular attractions for kids of all ages is the Discovery Village Mining Co. Discover what it’s like to pan for treasure with a real, working sluice! Kids are given bags of mining “rough” and as they sift and shake the tray, flowing water reveals amethyst, rose quartz, emeralds, arrowheads, or even fossils. Up for a challenge? Test your competitive spirit and see who can find their way the first of their AMAZEn’ Ranch Roundup, a 5,000 square foot outdoor maze. SPECIAL EVENTS In addition to year-round activities, there's also something special a few times a year. CHRISTMAS AT THE CAVERNS Celebrate Christmas unlike anywhere else in the world! Hear your favorite carols echo through Texas’ largest underground cavern. Get pictures with Santa “Spelunker” Claus, then round up his reindeer in our outdoor maze. As the sun sets behind the 30-foot tall Christmas tree, a hayride rolls through the hills, families roast s’mores, enjoy games, music, a giant snow globe, ice skating, and more. DISCOVERY DAYS Discovery Days is inspired by the discovery of Natural Bridge Caverns in 1960. It's a celebration of caving, exploration, and discovery with a safe, hands-on caving experience, accompanied by an educational adventure. BRACKEN BAT FLIGHT Every summer, the largest bat colony in the world forms at nearby Bracken Cave, and every evening they alight into the Texas sky in a remarkable display that is a wonder to behold, as they form a massive, swirling cloud that may be the largest single gathering of mammals on earth. |
AMAZEn' Ranch Roundup
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The Devil's Waterhole at Inks Lake State Park. Staff photo by JoAnna Kopp
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Devil’s Waterhole is located at Inks Lake State Park,
3630 Park Road 4 West in Burnet. Devil’s Waterhole is made up of metamorphic rock that has been folded and intruded by granite. “You can actually see the folds; they’re really obvious,” Mosher said. “A lot of people jump off the rocks. Where they jump off — right there — you can see the granites intruding. |
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area near Fredericksburg. Staff photos by JoAnna Kopp
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Enchanted Rock State Natural area is located at 16710 RR 965 north of Fredericksburg.
Named after the spiritual powers Native Americans believed it harnessed, Enchanted Rock covers 640 acres and rises 425 feet. The giant, pink granite dome is one of the largest batholiths in the United States. “We take lots of students to Enchanted Rock to talk about the granite and how it forms,” Mosher said. “It’s very special in that sense, and you can see big crystals within the granite.” It’s a beautiful example of the Hill Country's distinct pink granite. It’s also protected by the state, unlike Granite Mountain in Marble Falls. Once a batholith like Enchanted Rock, Granite Mountain has been mined since the 1800s. The Texas State Capital building in Austin is made of granite from the Marble Falls site. The rock is beautiful ornamentally, but you can also appreciate it in its pure state at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. |
Inside Longhorn Cavern State Park. Courtesy photo
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Longhorn Cavern State Park is located at
6211 Park Road 4 South in Burnet. Tour 135 feet deep into the Earth at Longhorn Cavern State Park. The limestone flow cave has distinctly smooth walls and a level path, characteristic of being formed by rushing water. Filled with stunning minerals such as smooth dolomite and glittering calcite crystals, Longhorn Cavern is a sight to see. |
'The Overlook' between Granite Shoals and Kingsland on RR 1431. Staff photo by David Bean
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"The Overlook" is located along RR 1431 between Granite Shoals and Kingsland.
For a scenic view of where Lake LBJ meets the Colorado and Llano rivers, visit "The Overlook." For a geology lesson, turn around: The striations in the carved-out mountain tell a story billions of years old. “You can clearly see the faults in it,” Mosher said. She explained that the 540-million-year-old faults happened as a result of Africa and South America colliding with the southern part of North America. |
Pedernales Falls State Park. Staff photo by JoAnna Kopp
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Pedernales Falls State Park is located at
2585 Park Road 6026 near Johnson City. Created by cascading water across layers of limestone, Pedernales Falls is essentially a gap of time in the Hill Country. It was formed by what’s known as “unconformities” — you can see Cretaceous cuts of limestone, tilted and angled with newer limestone on top. |
Endangered Species of the Edwards Aquifer
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AQUATIC SPECIES
Over 40 species of highly adapted, aquatic, subterranean species are known to live in the Edwards Aquifer. These include amphipod crustaceans, gastropod snails, and interesting vertebrates like blind catfish (Longley, 1986). Seven aquatic species are listed as endangered in the Edwards Aquifer system, and one is listed as threatened. The main problems for all the species are reduced springflows caused by increased pumping, elimination of habitat, and degradation of water quality caused by urban expansion. The seven endangered species of the Edwards Aquifer system are:
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The threatened species is:
San Marcos Salamander (Eurycea nana) KARST-DWELLING SPECIES In addition to the aquatic species that depend on Aquifer water itself, nine cave-dwelling invertebrates that live in the Aquifer's karst formations were listed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as endangered in December 2000. There are three beetles, one daddy long-legs, and five spiders. In May of 2008 the Service released a Draft Recovery Plan (download it). For a general discussion on all these creatures see the section below on the cave-dwelling invertebrates.
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This website has excellent information on these species, as well as hard-to-get videos.
So, What Exactly is Under Canyon Lake?
By Myra Lee Goff
October 18, 2011
October 18, 2011
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What is under about 100 feet of water in Canyon Lake? Or better still, what would still be there if the lake had not been constructed?
I started looking and found out: ranch land, farm land, trees, cemeteries, Guadalupe River and the site of two very small communities, Hancock and Cranes Mill. Plans for the improvement of the Guadalupe River Water Shed by building a dam go as far back as 1929. A survey was made in 1935 and was authorized 10 years later. Four sites were considered, with the one chosen 21 miles from New Braunfels. Construction began in 1960, and by 1964 when the gates were finally closed, the lake began to fill. With a shoreline of 80 miles, reservoir storage was estimated at 740,900 acre feet. Total cost of the project was around $20.2 million, with about $3 million more than projected due to road work and north and south access roads (source: Alton Rahe’s “History of Sattler and Mountain Valley School”). Some 500,000 cubic yards of material were hauled to the dam site out of a rock quarry owned by Roland and Gladys Erben. In a Reflections tape made for the Sophienburg, they said holes were drilled with air hammers. The holes were filled with ammonium nitrate and set off with a dynamite charge, causing 5,000 pounds of rock blasting each time. Now under water, the small settlement of Hancock would be there. It was named after the land’s original owner, John Hancock, who in 1851 was granted the land on the north bank of the Guadalupe River. Eventually, Frank Guenther acquired the land and established a store and opened a Post Office in 1916. This Post Office was closed in 1934 and, according to Oscar Haas, the population of Hancock in 1940 was 10. Frank Guenther was one of the children of Christian Guenther, one of the orphans raised by the Ervendbergs at the Weisenhaus (orphanage). Christian Guenther came from Germany with his parents and his three siblings in 1845. His mother and two siblings died aboard ship and his father died in |
Texas in 1847, leaving 8-year-old Christian as an orphan. As an adult, Christian settled in Sattler, raised a family of six children, one of which was Frank Guenther (source: Brenda Anderson Lindeman’s “Spring Branch”).
The other community under Canyon Lake would be Cranes Mill. James Crain established a cypress shingle mill in the 1850s along the Guadalupe. Notice the spelling which changed from “Crain” to “Crane” after the Civil War. My neighbor Olive Marcelle Hofheinz, is the g-granddaughter of a very well-known man in the Cranes Mill area, the Rev. August Engel. Engel arrived in Texas in 1846 and came to New Braunfels where he married his wife and then moved to the area known as Luckenbach. They began that General Merchandising Store that we know. It was his home and they named Luckenbach after their son-in-law. The Engels moved to Cranes Mill in 1870, there opening a store and establishing a Post Office he ran for 31 years. But Engel had another calling: He was a circuit-riding preacher in the river valley, Rebecca Creek, Cranes Mill, Twin Sisters and sometimes in New Braunfels. His wife was a midwife. The two of them performed many services for all the people in the area. In 1890 August Engel’s son, August W. Engel, took over the store and the Post Office and remained there until 1935. Marcelle Hofheinz remembers Cranes Mill Post Office. The Post Office was in the center of the store and it was enclosed in fine mesh wire, protecting cornmeal and flour from mice. When Canyon Dam was being constructed over a six-year period, my husband Glyn drove our family of three children to the North Park overlook and took slides at least three times a month. After that, we would go to the Roland Erben ranch to look for rocks. Rock hunting became a lifelong hobby for all of us. You can view Glyn’s slides detailing the construction of Canyon Dam by visiting http://www.co.comal.tx. us/CCHC.htm. |
All About the Edwards Aquifer
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OUR MISSION
The Edwards Aquifer Conservancy’s mission is to support and benefit the work of the Edwards Aquifer Authority. The Authority manages, enhances and protects the Edwards Aquifer – the primary source of water for personal, agricultural, commercial and industrial use. Its jurisdiction covers 8,000 square miles and ranges from Uvalde to Hays Counties, and parts in-between, and serves over 2 million people in South Central Texas daily. The Edwards Aquifer is a karst aquifer, consisting of porous, honeycombed formations of Edwards Limestone and other associated limestone. They serve as natural conduits through which water travels and is stored underground. Water reaches the aquifer as rain runoff collects on the drainage area (Edwards Plateau), soaks into the water table, and then emerges as spring-fed streams that flow downhill to the recharge zone. In the recharge zone, where the Edwards Limestone is exposed at the land surface, the water enters the aquifer through cracks, crevices, caves, and sinkholes, and then percolates further underground into the artesian zone. Here, a complex network of interconnected spaces, varying in size from microscopic pores to open caverns, stores and carries water in a west to east direction. Because water in the artesian zone is under pressure, there are areas where water is forced back to the surface through openings such as springs and free-flowing wells. Where there is not enough artesian pressure to force water to the surface, wells equipped with pumps can extract water. WHY IT MATTERS Water is life, pure and simple. Without it, there are no homes to build, businesses to operate, farms to irrigate, animals to raise, no industries to grow and prosper, and most importantly, none to drink and stay alive. Water fuels and sustains our hopes and dreams, and the lack of it is our worst nightmare. The state of Texas has empowered the Edwards Aquifer Authority to manage this unique and vital resource which resides several hundred feet below, and whose daily impact towers over all of us. Without the Edwards Aquifer, cities like Uvalde, San Antonio, New Braunfels and San Marcos simply don’t exist. |
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Climate Minute: How We Got the Edwards Aquifer
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Sarah Spivey explains how climate change and plate tectonics gave San Antonians their most abundant source of drinking water
SAN ANTONIO – Let’s travel back in time to the Cretaceous Period, 100 million years ago. Dinosaurs roam the land, the atmosphere is 10-15 degrees warmer, there are no ice caps at the poles and San Antonio is underwater. AQUIFER FORMATION 100 million years ago, shallow seas covered a good portion of Texas, and prehistoric mollusks, corals and other tiny sea creatures thrived. These organisms, made of carbonate material, eventually died and their remains settled in the mud of the sea bed. Over time, intense heat and pressure from plate tectonics transformed the carbon-rich mud into limestone bedrock. Rain, which contains weak acid, eventually dissolved the limestone, creating the pourous “karst” and formed caves and conduits. Today, this vast system of “holey” limestone around South Central Texas is called the Edwards Aquifer. HOW THE EDWARDS AQUIFER WORKS There are three zones of the Edwards Aquifer - the Contributing Zone, the Recharge Zone, and the Artesian Zone. |
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE EDWARDS AQUIFER Climate change over millions of years of history is normal. There have been warm periods and cold periods in our Earth’s 4.5 billion-year-old history. In fact, without the 10-15 degree warmer atmosphere of the Cretacious Period, the shallow seas over San Antonio may not have existed, thus the Edwards Aquifer itself may have looked very different than it does now. However, the general consensus of scientists around the world is that the climate is warming at a pace we’ve never seen before because of greenhouse gas emissions. In San Antonio, that could mean periods of drier and hotter weather, which would result in less water to harvest in the aquifer and more water restrictions for locals. |
How Groundwater Moves in the Karst Landscape
This video is part of a series that highlights the geology and complex movement of groundwater in southeast Minnesota.
Groundwater: The Lifeblood of the Hill Country
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Groundwater is one of the most valuable resources in the Hill Country. Our underground aquifers provide water for homes, businesses and agriculture. Groundwater also serves as the reserve supply for future residents, since most aquifers do not recharge as quickly as we deplete them. Our aquifers are a vitally important source of water for the Hill Country’s hidden gems: our springs, small streams and creeks and clear running rivers. However, our groundwater supply is limited and under increasing pressure from a growing population. If this resource is to sustain our communities, future generations and the environmental treasures of the Hill Country, it must be carefully managed
THE RULE OF CAPTURE In Texas, groundwater and surface water are governed separately. Surface water is owned and permitted by the state while groundwater is considered a private property right of a landowner. Governed by the Rule of Capture, |
Capture, commonly referred to as the “law of the biggest pump,” a landowner has absolute ownership of any captured groundwater with no liability for harm caused to neighbors or surrounding ecosystems.
Texas adopted the Rule in 1904, when aquifers and hydrogeology were poorly understood. Around this same time advances in well drilling technology and electricity brought on by the Industrial Revolution in the early 20th Century contributed to the widespread use of groundwater than ever before seen. In recent decades, a number of legal cases challenging the Rule accompanied by periods of severe droughts has led many state officials and water managers to consider the consequences of unrestricted pumping. In 1949, the Texas Legislature established groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) as the only state entities allowed to regulate and thereby modify the Rule of Capture. |
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GROUNDWATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTS
GCDs are the only entities in place to protect our groundwater resources. The Texas Legislature, recognizing the need for groundwater management after multiple lawsuits challenging the Rule of Capture, adopted SB1 in YYYY which allowed for the creation of GCDs. Districts are tasked with the development of groundwater management plans, the adoption of rules regulating the spacing and production of wells, and monitoring aquifer conditions. |
GCDs are statutorily mandated to balance aquifer protection with the right of landowners to extract groundwater. Ensuring our aquifers remain healthy and resilient given the diversity of seemingly competing interests is no easy endeavor. Learn more about GCD authority and the challenges they face here (Coming soon).
Glancing at the map below one will notice the prevalence of single-county GCDs. Since aquifers don’t follow or abide by political boundaries, a more regional approach to planning was needed. |
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GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AREAS
Groundwater Management Areas (GMAs) follow the outline of major aquifers better and require GCDs within the boundaries to coordinate and cooperate in regional planning. These GMAs are directed to come up with “desired future conditions” (DFCs) for the aquifers: they must agree upon how much water can and should be pumped now and in the future and how that pumping will affect the future state of the aquifer. Most often, the DFC is an average aquifer draw-down measured in feet. Some GCDs |
measure their DFCs as specific spring-flow rates. GMAs throughout the state will begin the second round of this process in the Fall of 2015, and the decisions they make will impact future generations.
Most of the Hill Country falls in GMA 9. GMA-9 member Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) gather as a GMA to plan for the future of the Trinity Aquifer. GMA-7 in the western Hill Country plans primarily for the Edwards Plateau Aquifer. GMA-10 in the south and eastern Hill Country plans primarily for the future of the Edwards Balcones Fault Zone Aquifer. |
Basics of Texas Water Law
Tiffany Dowell Lashmet
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
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Water law is one of the most contentious and frequent legal issues Texas landowners face. As the adage goes, “Whiskey is for drinkin’ and water is for fightin’.” Texas property owners need to understand the basics of Texas water law as well as their rights and legal limitations related to the use of water on their property.
Texas water law divides water into two broad categories: groundwater and surface water. Different legal frameworks and regulatory structures apply to each category, making Texas water law more complex than other states that follow a single legal approach for all waters. GROUNDWATER The Texas Water Code defines groundwater as “water percolating below the surface of the earth.”[1] Nine major aquifers hold much of this groundwater: Cenozoic Pecos Alluvium, Seymour, Gulf Coast, Carrizo-Wilcox, Huaco–Mesilla Bolson, Ogallala, Edwards–Trinity Plateau, Edwards BFZ, and Trinity. OWNERSHIP Absent an agreement otherwise, Texas landowners own the groundwater beneath their property.[2] Texas courts are clear that a landowner has a vested property right in groundwater. Although a land- owner has the right to capture water from beneath his or her property, this right does not ensure the right to capture a specific amount of groundwater. Like other estates such as minerals, the groundwater estate may be severed from the surface estate of the property. The severed groundwater estate can then be reserved (the seller of the property retains the groundwater ownership and sells his or her remaining interest) or conveyed (a property owner sells or otherwise transfers the groundwater ownership but retains ownership of the rest of the property). If a property owner sells his or her property but retains the groundwater rights, the new purchaser owns the surface estate but not the groundwater. The seller who reserved that interest still owns the groundwater. In 2016, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a severed groundwater estate—like a severed mineral estate—is dominant over the surface estate.[3] This ruling is crucial for anyone owning or considering purchasing property with severed groundwater rights. The result of this ruling is that absent an express agreement to the contrary, an owner of a severed groundwater right has the |
Water ditch between rice fields. Source: Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M AgriLife.
automatic, implied right to use as much of the surface of the land as is reasonably necessary to produce the severed groundwater. This right is limited by the accommodation doctrine, which requires a dominant estate holder to accommodate an existing surface owner if the surface owner can prove:
1 Texas Water Code Section 36.001(5). 2 Texas Water Code Section 36.002. 3 Coyote Lake Ranch v. City of Lubbock, 498 S.W.3d 53 (Tex. 2016). |
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APPLICABLE LAW
The Rule of Capture governs groundwater law and provides that a landowner has the right to pump water from beneath his or her property, even at the expense of his or her neighbor. The Texas Supreme Court4 established this rule in 1904 when it found that a landowner had no legal remedy when a railroad company moved in next door, drilled a bigger, deeper well, and made the landowner’s well go dry. The landowner’s remedy, explained the Court, was to drill his own bigger, deeper well. But, particular limitations on the Rule of Capture apply--Groundwater Conservation Districts and common law rules. Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) are the “preferred method of groundwater management in Texas.”[5] Although the Texas Constitution tasks the Texas Legislature with managing the State’s natural resources, the Legislature determined that allowing local control through GCDs would be a better approach to groundwater management. Thus, there are 98 GCDs across the state (see map on page 5). These districts manage ground- water within their bounds by developing plans and implementing rules related to groundwater production. The rules differ by GCD but often include a permitting process for most groundwa- ter wells, some form of reporting requirement, and production rules such as spacing rules, pump size limits, or production limits. In addition to the rules for each district, a state statute, which is applicable across Texas, makes specified wells exempt from the GCD per- mitting process. Wells that are exempt under this statute are not requried to obtain a permit to drill from the local GCD, but may need to register and follow other district requirements. Exempt well categories in Texas include:
– drilled, completed, or equipped to be incapable of producing more than 25,000 gallons per day; |
Irrigated corn. Source: Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife.
____________ 4 Houston & T.C. Ry. V. East, 81 S.W.279 (1904). 5 Texas Water Code Section 36.0015(b). 6 Texas Water Code Section 36.117. |
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If a landowner is not in the bounds of a GCD, he or she need not worry about these types of regulations.
Some common-law exceptions have developed through court cases. These limitations, which apply state-wide, regardless of whether a GCD is in place in an area, prohibit a landowner from
SURFACE WATER Surface water includes all water “under ordinary flow, underflow and tides of every flowing river, stream, lake, bay, arm of the Gulf of Mexico, and stormwater, floodwater or rainwater of every river, natural stream, canyon, ravine, depression, and watershed in the state.”[8] A subcategory of surface water is diffused surface water, also known as storm runoff or rain or snow. The key difference between surface water and diffused surface water is whether a “defined watercourse” exists. Under Texas case law, a defined watercourse is made up of three elements: (1) bed and banks, (2) current, and (3) permanent source and supply.[9] The application of this test has been extremely broad, with the Texas Supreme Court holding that a defined watercourse existed where the bed and banks were “slight, imperceptible or absent,” the current of water was not “continuous and the stream may be dry for long periods of time.”[10] Landowners should carefully consider whether runoff on their property is truly diffused surface water or if it meets the liberal definition of surface water. |
OWNERSHIP
The State of Texas owns surface water, held in trust for the citizens.[11] The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) manages it. In most cases, to use surface water, a landowner must obtain a permit from the TCEQ allowing them to use a designated amount of water for a designated purpose. TCEQ will consider a number of issues, including whether there is unappropriated water available in the basin, how the proposed diversion will impact other surface water permit holders, and whether the proposed diversion will be put to beneficial use. Diffused surface water, however, is the property of the landowner as long as it remains on the landowner’s property and may be used how he or she wishes until it reaches the defined watercourse, at which time it becomes state-owned water.[12] APPLICABLE LAW The legal doctrine of prior appropriation governs the use of surface water, following the principle of “first in time, first in right.”[13] Essentially, prior appropriation means “first come, first served.” When a person obtains a permit from the TCEQ, that permit has a “priority date.” The TCEQ maintains a database of all water rights. In times of shortage, senior water users—those with the oldest priority date—receive all of the water to which they are entitled before junior users receive any. A water rights holder concerned that there will not be enough water to allow his or her permitted withdrawal may contact TCEQ and request a priority call, which is an order from TCEQ to junior water rights holders to stop diverting water. ____________ 7 See Sipriano v. Great Spring Waters of Am., Inc., 1 S.W.3d 75 (Tex. 1999). 8 Texas Water Code Section 11.021. 9 Hoefs v. Short, 273 S.W. 785 (Tex. 1925). 10 Hoefs v. Short, 273 S.W. 785 (Tex. 1925). 11 Texas Water Code Section 11.021. 12 Domel v. City of Georgetown, 6 S.W.3d 349 (Tex. Ct. App. – Austin 1999). 13 Texas Water Code Section 11.027 |
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Certain diversions of water are exempt from the TCEQ permitting process, meaning that landowners may make these diversions of surface water without obtaining a TCEQ permit. These exemptions apply only on a non-navigable stream.[14] For any navigable stream, all diversions require a permit from the TCEQ. Under Texas law, there are two alternative tests for navigability. To be deemed navigable, a watercourse need satisfy only one. First, a watercourse can be “navigable in fact”—it can be used as a “highway for commerce.”[15] Courts have stated that waterways capable of floating logs and travel by any boat are “navigable in fact,” despite “occasional difficulties in navigation.”[16] Second, a watercourse can be “navigable in law”—it maintains an average width of 30 feet from gradient boundary line to gradient boundary line.[17]
Assuming a stream is non-navigable, the following diversions do not require a permit:
SUMMARY Because legal issues surrounding water will not go away anytime soon, landowners should educate themselves on the laws and their rights related to water use. The first step in analyzing water law issues in Texas is to understand the different categories of water and the legal approaches to |
Cattle resting and eating in the Panhandle after rains left green grass and full ponds.
Source: Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife.
each. In Texas, the landowner owns the groundwater, subject in many areas to rules created by Groundwater Conservation Districts. Landowners should determine whether they are in a GCD and, if so, review and understand the rules of that district. When buying or selling property, all Texas landowners should be careful to determine whether groundwater rights have been severed. The State of Texas owns surface water and a permit from the TCEQ is generally required to divert state-owned surface water. Diffused surface water is storm runoff and may be captured and used by a landowner before it reaches a defined watercourse and becomes state-owned water.
____________ 14 30 Texas Admin. Code 297.21(c). 15 Taylor Fishing Club v. Hammett, 88 S.W.2d 127 (Tex. Ct. App. – Waco 1935). 16 Orange Lumber Co. v. Thompson, 126 S.W. 604 (Tex. Ct. App. – 1910). 17 Taylor Fishing Club v. Hammett, 88 S.W.2d 127 (Tex. Ct. App. – Waco 1935). 18 Texas Water Code Section 11.142. |
