WIMBERLEY, Texas — Following a legal battle in Hays County, people who call Wimberley home crowded into the city's community center Friday night to discuss what's being done to protect their water.
The Hays County Trinity Groundwater District fined Aqua Texas nearly $450,000 in 2023 for over-pumping the Trinity Aquifer. That fine led to Aqua Texas filing a federal lawsuit against the district in January.
Water and environmental groups believe Aqua Texas, which they described as a plague in the community, needs to be held accountable. The groups, who brought out a legal team during the meeting, said water is the economic backbone of their community and that if action isn't taken, it will cost them their livelihood.
The Trinity Edwards Spring Protection Association (TESPA) and The Watershed Association said they plan to file a petition to revoke Aqua Texas' Certificate of Convenience and Necessity with the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC). It's a response people who live in the city agree is necessary.
TESPA added that they will offer to help the Trinity Groundwater District with its legal bills.
"It's common sense," Donna Richards said. "[Water] will run out."
Richards has lived in Wimberley for about 30 years and said she doesn't believe Aqua Texas respects the resources that they rely so heavily on.
"We live in an area that experiences droughts and low water problems and it's just bad for the environment. And this corporation does not respect that," Richards said.
Popular spring-fed watering holes Jacob's Well and Blue Hole Regional Park experienced record low water levels last summer and conservationists say over-pumping by Aqua Texas in 2022 contributed to them running dry.
Kelley Shand, who relies on water for her ranch, said the people of Wimberley consistently do their part to conserve because they know it's the only water they have.
"We're catching water in the sink ... We're doing all these things, not flushing the toilet ... And then you find out water is being wasted in so many other places," Shand said. "The things we plant and the things that we think are so important sometimes that really in the grand scheme of life, having water is a lot more important than our lawn."
Shand, like the crowd that packed the community center Friday, only hopes that more can be done to preserve water for future generations.
"The whole mystique of Wimberley is the water, the river, and the creek," Shand said. "And the beauty of our town."
Aqua Texas officials released the following statement:
"Aqua Texas is pouring nearly $30 million into improving our Wimberley Valley water infrastructure – an investment that will bring a new era of water conservation and reuse in the Hill Country and meet the growing challenges of a changing climate and frequent droughts in the area. The upgrades include construction of a new $25 million water treatment and reuse plant, the replacement of 25,000 feet of aging water mains, and the establishment of new groundwater wells that will reduce pumping in the Jacob’s Well Groundwater Management Zone.
Our customers represent 13% of the population that lives within the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District and water is only pumped in response to their consumption needs. We aggressively enforce any drought restrictions put in place by the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District by installing flow restrictors on the water meters of homes that do not comply. As a result, on average, our customers in the Wimberley Valley use less than half as much water per month as compared to homes in other parts of Texas.
Unfortunately, our efforts to pump farther away from Jacob’s Well have been purposefully blocked by the same local regulators publicly expressing concern about the natural spring’s water levels. Additionally, some of the mechanisms needed to pay for these upgrades face opposition from the same groups blaming our operations for perennial drought conditions seen at Jacob’s Well.
Aqua Texas faces illegal fines from the district. The fines both exceed their statutory limit and fail to treat Aqua Texas equally with the other pumping violators whose fines were forgiven. We are therefore challenging the district’s actions in federal court. While we have every reason to believe the U.S. District Court will rule in our favor, we have agreed with the district to pause our lawsuit for a short period to try to resolve these disputes and avoid the costs of a protracted legal battle on both sides."
During the meeting, TESPA and The Watershed Association said they would also be looking for other avenues to ensure water keeps flowing through Wimberley.