99 percent of Texas is in drought. Water levels in both the The Edwards aquifer which serves San Antonio and parts of the Hill Country and the Trinity Aquifer that spreads through West Texas are running low, because of drought and due to pumping.
Robert Mace, executive director at the Meadows Center for Water and Environment at Texas State University says groundwater provides 40 percent of municipal water across the state. Groundwater supplies 40 percent of municipal water across the state. The city of San Antonio uses virtually nothing else. "They're under drought restrictions and I'm sure they're looking very closely at the projections for this drought going into the fall and winter in terms of how much they are going to have to reduce their use of the aquifer."
Robert Mace, executive director at the Meadows Center for Water and Environment at Texas State University says groundwater provides 40 percent of municipal water across the state. Groundwater supplies 40 percent of municipal water across the state. The city of San Antonio uses virtually nothing else. "They're under drought restrictions and I'm sure they're looking very closely at the projections for this drought going into the fall and winter in terms of how much they are going to have to reduce their use of the aquifer."
Mace says Texas is looking at La Nina conditions extending into the fall and early winter. They are associated with drier and warmer than normal weather. This would be the third year in a row we're seeing this. "That's something to keep a close eye on. If we get La Nina conditions going through the winter months, we're going to be in much worse shape water resource wise."
He says as the current drought gets worse, some cities could struggle with water supplies. During the last drought, which ran from 2009 to 2015, "Wichita Falls was in pretty dire shape during that drought. There were times when they were within a month or two from completely running out of water."
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