Aquifers Are Infrastructure: State of the Water Luncheon Calls for Collaboration on Our Shared Water Future

After nearly four years, Jacob’s Well briefly flowed again last week. For three days, water rose before dropping back to a trickle – a clear message that anchored this year’s State of the Water Luncheon. The relief of recent rains is not recovery from the rainfall deficit of the last several years, and as the challenges continue, protecting the aquifer that sustains our community will take our collective effort and attention.

Hosted by the Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce and presented by The Watershed Association, the annual luncheon held on June 24th filled the Wimberley Community Center. Chamber Board Chair Helena Goodson Hawk opened the afternoon and thanked sponsors –  Friends of Wimberley Parks, the City of Wimberley, Wimberley Parks Department, and Katie Blevins of Equitable Advisors. The program was facilitated by the Watershed Association’s Founder and Executive Director, David Baker, who welcomed the expert panel of speakers to discuss aquifers as infrastructure and the collaborative management required to keep our waters flowing beyond the visible borders on the map and across the region.

“The water doesn’t know city limits or property lines; it follows the underground geology and the watershed,” Baker said. “So the only way to protect it is collaboratively,  the way the Chamber is doing today: bringing the whole community together.”

The Science: Relief Is Not Recovery

Dr. Robert Mace, Executive Director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, delivered a candid assessment. Recent rains brought improvement, but the Hill Country remains in a drought defined by duration, with Canyon Lake near a new drought of record. Temperatures are now warmer than during the Dust Bowl, and while rainfall has held roughly steady, hotter conditions pull moisture from the soil, reducing runoff and aquifer recharge in every Hill Country basin since 1980.

Meanwhile, the forthcoming 2027 State Water Plan projects tripling the population of Hays County, with water demand almost doubling over the next year. Because the region’s groundwater is essentially already allocated, planners could propose little beyond hundreds of thousands of rainwater-harvesting systems – and still identify enough water for only about half the projected growth. Mace’s planning principle echoed all afternoon: “Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and expect to be surprised.”

Collaboration in Action: The Watershed Protection Plan

Baker then introduced Melissa Wolter, the new Hays County Watershed Coordinator -a role that embodies the collaborative model the luncheon celebrates. Her position was created through the Blanco–Cypress Watershed Protection Plan interlocal agreement, a formal partnership among Hays County, the cities of Wimberley and Woodcreek, the Meadows Center, and The Watershed Association. Rather than each entity working alone, the agreement lets the partners plan strategically for the watershed as a whole -, sharing science and research initiatives, regional education, and combining resources to pursue measurable outcomes.

Wolter, an aquatic scientist and Wimberley local whose children learned to swim in the Blanco, reminded the room that a watershed supports far more than the faucet: wildlife, recreation, tourism, businesses, and property values. “A healthy, flowing stream is an economic asset; a dry stream is an economic liability,” she said. Her focus is implementation, stormwater and creek-erosion projects with measurable results, along with a longer-term vision of adapting the Edwards Aquifer model, which protects spring flow before it fails, to our own watershed.

Aquifers Are Infrastructure

In the anchor presentation, Baker made the economic case. Communities readily finance roads, broadband, and the grid, yet our most valuable asset is invisible- the Trinity Aquifer. The groundwater district has confirmed the aquifer exceeded its Desired Future Condition roughly 35 years early, and a single foot of water level change can stop the flow at Jacob’s Well. Even after the rains, the valley remains about 35 inches behind on rainfall. “We haven’t earned that water back,” Baker said.

The stakes are economic: nearly a million visitors last year support a tourism economy likely approaching $100 million and more than 500 jobs. The response spans three decades of land conservation with roughly 1,055 protected acres in the Cypress Creek watershed, including  500 acres around Jacob’s Well and over 10,000 acres in the Blanco Watershed.  Ongoing land restoration projects infiltrate water into the aquifer, and One Water strategies across the region support managing drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and rainwater as one system. “The cheapest, most reliable water is the water we conserve,” Baker said.

Case Study: Delta Millworks

The Wimberley One Water School, the first in Texas, uses roughly 90 percent less groundwater, saving the school district over $1 million over the next 25 years.  And one of Wimberley’s newest businesses shows the private sector can do the same. Delta Millworks is one of Wimberley’s newest businesses utilizing One Water principles; a second-generation East Austin company led by Robbie Davis and partner Price Taylor, Delta purchased 33 acres off RR 12 and made water stewardship the foundation of its new campus: 180,000 gallons of rainwater storage instead of drilling a well, low impervious cover, roughly 90 percent of the site preserved in native trees and prairie, and dark-sky lighting.  The location in Wimberley will open with about 45 jobs and scale toward more than 120 jobs. “If Delta Millworks can do it,” Baker said, “so can a hotel, a winery, or a restaurant.”

Local Leaders Report Progress

In a lightning round, Mayor Debra Hines of Woodcreek pointed to the city’s interlocal agreements and ordinances now in place-a Parkland Fund, heritage-tree protections, rainwater and pool rebates, plus a GLO grant bringing One Water planning to Woodcreek. Commissioner Morgan Hammer highlighted Hays County’s subdivision-rule rewrites paired with a countywide water-supply study, while noting the county’s limited land-use authority. Garrett Allen of member-owned Wimberley Water Supply reported smart meters now catch leaks within a day, helping cut monthly pumping from about 23 million gallons to roughly 9 million. Mayor Jim Chiles described a coalition of more than 20 Hill Country mayors and city water-reclamation projects at the new welcome center and plans for the Blue Hole Nature Center.

A Shared Responsibility

With Proposition 4 dedicating up to a billion dollars a year to the new state water fund for the next 20 years, Wimberley and Woodcreek have passed resolutions to seek $10 million each for infrastructure sited to expand water supply that would better protect Jacob’s Well spring flow. The event drew to a close with a proposition for the community to host a future Hays County Water Summit. Community members can take action now by becoming a Watershed Rainmaker, a business member of the Rainmaker Business Alliance, adopting rainwater capture, attending a Land Water Connection education event, educating your neighbors on water conservation and native landscaping, and connecting with Watershed Coordinator Melissa Wolter to get involved locally email: melissa.wolter@hayscountytx.gov

Protecting our water is critical work that requires an ongoing effort and a collaborative approach, it takes all of us working together.