WIMBERLEY — Aqua Texas, a water utility company that serves Hays County, was fined approximately $450,000 by the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) for pumping 89.4 million gallons of water in 2022, which was almost twice the amount was allotted by its permit.

“We are the fastest growing county in the United States and we have been for the past 10 years. We have not gotten a substantial amount of rain in several years, certainly not enough to recharge our aquifers,” said Charlie Flatten, general manager of the HTGCD. “All of the utilities and all of the groundwater users in the Hill Country are suffering because their well levels are going down. That’s going to happen until we get a nice, strong rain. A sustained rain.”

The fine was issued earlier this year, but it has not been paid. Flatten said that the district is currently in negotiations with Aqua Texas.

“If we don’t come to a conclusion and they don’t pay by the end of the year, they’ll be operating without a permit,” he said.

Flatten said that this is not the first time that a water utility company has overproduced or overpumped its permit. In 2022, HTGCD had about 20 companies overproduce their permits. However, Aqua Texas is the only company that has refused to pay its fine.

The News-Dispatch reached out to Aqua Texas about the fine, but the company did not provide a comment due to ongoing negotiations.

Aqua Texas’ impact on Jacob’s Well and Blue Hole

Claire Palmer and her family recently moved to Woodcreek from Houston because, like many others, they were enchanted by naturally beautiful places like Blue Hole Regional Park and Jacob’s Well. However, with the continuous drought and aquifers drying up, they are unable to visit the places that initially drew them to the area.

“It’s really disheartening. Livability and water issues seem to be on everyone’s mind, including my family,” she said. “It’s hard to see how our aquifer will ever be able to sustain us all without sweeping changes to reverse so much damage.”

Wimberley city officials announced that Blue Hole was closed for swimming for the remainder of the season on Tuesday, Aug. 29 — despite only anticipating it to be closed for two weeks beginning the Monday prior — because a section of Cypress Creek that flows through the park had not regained a safe depth for swimmers.

Another popular swimming spot in Wimberley, Jacob’s Well, reached zero flow for the sixth time in its recorded history and county officials announced in April that swimming was to remain canceled for the foreseeable future.

Woodcreek Mayor pro tem Brent Pulley said that throughout the 17 years he has lived in the area, this is the worst he has seen the water levels and believes that the concerns that residents have are vital.

“We are concerned about Jacob’s Well [and] we’re concerned about the state of Blue Hole. So, it’s on our mind all the time,” he said. “I’ll tell people that are concerned that we’re concerned, too. But we all have to recognize that we live in a different place. We are dependent solely on groundwater, which is being depleted. So, we’ve got to think differently in how we use water because of where we live.”

Aqua Texas was pumping water from the Trinity Aquifer, which feeds into Jacob’s Well. Flatten said that the overpumping “certainly contributes” to Jacob’s Well, Blue Hole, wells and aquifers in the area running really low.

David Baker, executive director of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, said that the overpumping is also concerning because Aqua Texas surpassed its drought allotment, which is put into place for a reason.

“The reason that’s concerning is that it’s in the Jacob’s Well Groundwater Management Zone. Aqua [Texas] was a part of helping to create those rules, and there were quite a few concessions to create those rules, with the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. And so them overpumping it at 100 million gallons, it’s almost 200 days of the flow at Cypress Creek at low flow at one [cubic foott per second] or so. That was why those rules were put in place to try to maintain that spring flow during severe drought.”

The Aqua Texas system has between 30-40% line loss, or leaks, which is about 30-40 billion gallons of water wasted, according to Baker: “To me, that’s been the biggest low-hanging fruit for Aqua Texas to fix those leaks over the years. It’s been a decade or more,” he explained.

Palmer said that while the community has stepped up to conserve water, she feels there is a level of unfairness when Aqua Texas’ “broken pipelines are spilling thousands of gallons into barren dirt, somewhere deep underground.”

“For years, Aqua has let their leaks go unnoticed, their overpumping of the aquifer was ignored and all the while their profits soared. Their first commitment is to their shareholders, but as a community our first commitment is to having sustainable access to water. If those in power truly have Wimberley citizens in mind, Aqua Texas’ permit should not be renewed in 2024 and their assets should be sold to our community,” she said. “They’ve promised that they are good stewards of our resources, but I can’t point to a single thing that proves that. There’s no short-term plan to address the most problematic pipeline leaks and no long-term strategy to protect the aquifer.”

How The Local Economy Is Affected

The deplenishing levels at Jacob’s Well and Blue Hole are impacting the local economies in the cities of Woodcreek and Wimberley because when people travel from out of town to visit the natural attractions, they will take advantage of what else the cities have to offer.

“When the city had to close Blue Hole and the county had to close Jacob’s Well, that meant that they lost money in revenue, as well as those people not coming to town to stay in a bed and breakfast or spend money in our restaurants and in our stores,” Baker said. “So, it’s not only the impact of just the fees for swimming, but all the ancillary revenue that was lost.”

Wimberley Mayor Gina Fulkerson said that income from Blue Hole is approximately $5,000 per day.

“When people come from out of town to go to Blue Hole, they will generally go into town. They’ll go to restaurants, they’ll go shopping [and] they often have to spend the night. That is a big draw,” she explained. “When Blue Hole is closed, it has a ripple effect that results in lost income to Wimberley businesses and to the city’s sales tax.”

For residents, sitting by the river or creek is something they used to be able to enjoy on a daily basis, whether they are at home or near downtown. But that has all started to fade away.

“The creek is not flowing behind the businesses downtown. People like to sit out beside and look over the creek and it’s really a life issue for this area, not to mention the other environmental effects and the concern about where we go with this in the future,” Fulkerson said.

Conservation Efforts Are Essential

Conservation efforts are essential now more than ever to protect the water resources that are available in the area.

The majority of Woodcreek residents have been very diligent in their water conservation and reducing the amount of water that they use, according to city manager Kevin Rule. He said that there’s a lot of people in the city who have cut back on water usage, but city officials will continue to get the word out about water conservation.

Wimberley Water Corporation advises that there should be absolutely no watering lawns outside, which is something that can bring down water usage tremendously.

“Adopting native landscape is a really important strategy,” Baker said. “I think outdoor watering generally is about 60% water use in a home, so that’s really the place to cut back.”

Conservation is all about the small things that people can do that will make a big, lasting impact in the long-run.

“If you have a plant that you’re trying to keep alive, then catch water while you’re heating up the water for your shower. It seems like small things, but if you look at actual water usage, there are a lot of ways you can cut back,” Fulkerson said. “Some of them [are] just practical and common sense. Reusing water that you’ve used for other purposes, not running some of your appliances that use a lot of water as often, if you can get away with that.”

“We’re gonna have to become much more innovative and conscious of our water use if we want to maintain incredible natural assets like Jacob’s Well, Blue Hole or the Blanco River, which are so integral to our community and to our economy,” Baker said.

Next Steps For Aqua Texas And Wimberley Valley

Rule said that the cities of Woodcreek and Wimberley, along with other organizations, have met to discuss the concerns surrounding the availability of water.

“We are working on building that relationship with Aqua Texas to alleviate some of those concerns, but also have a plan going forward to be able to provide water to everybody in the Wimberley Valley,” the city manager said. “Because it’s not just a Woodcreek problem, it’s a Wimberley Valley problem with a lot of shareholders involved. We are all trying to work together to solve this issue.”

The city of Woodcreek is looking at all of its options whether it be continuing to work with Aqua Texas or to go a different route, Pulley said.

This is a developing story. The News-Dispatch will provide updates as more information becomes available.