Every year a bunch of my neighbor ranchers and Aggies get together for some good bull and clay bird shoot/ hunt.... just a good fun time. We were sittin around the campfire and two of those guys Edwards wells have gone totally dry on their places..,. And I'm talking some very expensive places.
One of them shared that he has found that a lot of ranchers/landowners in the northwestern hill country are experiencing that. Wells went dry this summer and have not come back period.
They said lots of them trying to drill on down to the Trinity but most counties require permits for that.
Wondering how wide spread this is in the hill country? Anybody else hearing of this or experiencing this. Couple of these ranches are worth multiple millions and now have no water.

Too many people are moving to Texas. Water is going to be a terrible issue sooner than later. Everyone that can't get on a water supply is drilling their own well then watering the hell out of their yards. Unfortunately I see us needing more lakes. Who wants to volunteer their land up for that? Gonna suck but what are our options?

Funny you say that. My old Ag room mate is a project engineer for Corp of Engineers. He told that they had a plan to build a new reservoir on the Llano River just below Junction. However the land prices are so high in that area that even using eminent domain they could not afford to purchase the land needed.... so it was dropped.

I can tell you on our Ranch by Oatmeal our well went dry but so did the San Gabriel River this past summer. It's 300 feet well and it's in a location that's not to far from the San Gabriel River that runs through the middle of the ranch.

The ranch has been in my family for 100 years and my Dad who is in his early 70's has said the well or River has never gone dry in the history of the ranch. The only thing that saved us this past summer was we have water from the Bertram municipal water district that runs to the ranch.

Since we gotten some rain since summer the well is back to producing and the San Gabriel River has little bit of water in the bed but not near the levels the River normally is.

Bunch of people in Dripping Springs are having to have water trucked in

Still really really dry in parts of the edwards plateau. We've had one well go dry but luckily the main well for our house is in the cow creek par of the trinity (600+ ft)

Still way behind in annual rain fall. Need La Nina to go away.

Actually scared to type this. So far, the four wells on our ranch are producing through this terrible drought.

WaldoWings said:

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Too many people are moving to Texas. Water is going to be a terrible issue sooner than later. Everyone that can't get on a water supply is drilling their own well then watering the hell out of their yards. Unfortunately I see us needing more lakes. Who wants to volunteer their land up for that? Gonna suck but what are our options?

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Correct, Texas is adding a city the size of Corpus Christi every single year in population and none of these folks are bringing their own water or electricity with them. While many drill wells in rural areas, some install rain water harvesting systems, which work great ---when it rains.

Our well near Leakey went dry over summer and still hasn't come back even after good rains last few months. But are well is not deep and we have city water now. I think it will take time and more rain but Texas will have water issues in near future IMO.

1) Too many ranchitos with unregulated, if you can drill it you can pump it water wells.

2) Overgrazing in the 1800's by sheep/goat farmers led to widespread massive errosion.
2a) Overgrazing combined with elimination of fire leads to introduction to non-native species that are not drought tolerant and highly wasteful of groundwater.

My understanding that prior to 2 above much of the hill country that we recognize today as rocky hillsides and scrub oak and cedar (ash juniper) was grassland.

Our well in Lavaca County hasn't gone dry but we've had a couple scares. It starts pulling a lot of sand, during the summer for weeks on end. This was the first year I've ever had any issues with it. Had to buy bottled water for drinking. It's better now but we have been extremely frugal with our water usage since

About 20 years ago, T Boone Pickens bought up most of the water rights from the rough country in the eastern Panhandle, and was prepared to spend a billion dollars on a pipeline to pipe it to the San Antonio area. It has been well known for a long time that population growth in the Edwards Aquifer area is far outpacing recharge, even when not in a horrible drought like this year.

The panhandle water district made a deal with T Boone's group to keep the water up here... But you are not going to invest a billion in a pipeline unless you are making 2 billion on the water.

I guess what I'm saying is according to all the water guru's I know, farmers and ranchers in the Edwards aquifer area of Texas are F-ed. And as the population in the area grows they are just going to get more F-ed.

WaldoWings said:

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Too many people are moving to Texas. Water is going to be a terrible issue sooner than later. Everyone that can't get on a water supply is drilling their own well then watering the hell out of their yards. Unfortunately I see us needing more lakes. Who wants to volunteer their land up for that? Gonna suck but what are our options?

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This. And everyone thinking (or HOAs requiring) that their yards need to look like a freaking golf course.

It takes a considerable amount of time for surface water to work its way down in the "collection" portions of aquifers to where it is in the formations it is pumped from. If it is badly drawn down it would take years of above average rainfall to recover. Too many people are drawing water and since they're not bearing the increased cost of doing so at the individual level, everyone will suffer the collective cost of the resource being badly diminished.

Tragedy of the commons. The only solution is regulation, which most people detest because it is bureaucratic and inefficient by nature, but otherwise, people are incentivized to keep taking the resource individually as much and fast as possible.

More wells will run dry as there are more wells unless there is regulation on how much is taken and how it can be used. That's just the way it is.

Our well in Real county went dry last summer. We ended up installing a cistern so we can truck it in. The Frio River is as low as ever am an indicator that the groundwater is nowhere near what's needed. Hopeful that with relief from the drought the springs and aquifers will stabilize again.

Gunny456 said:

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Every year a bunch of my neighbor ranchers and Aggies get together for some good bull and clay bird shoot/ hunt.... just a good fun time. We were sittin around the campfire and two of those guys Edwards wells have gone totally dry on their places..,. And I'm talking some very expensive places.
One of them shared that he has found that a lot of ranchers/landowners in the northwestern hill country are experiencing that. Wells went dry this summer and have not come back period.
They said lots of them trying to drill on down to the Trinity but most counties require permits for that.
Wondering how wide spread this is in the hill country? Anybody else hearing of this or experiencing this. Couple of these ranches are worth multiple millions and now have no water.

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If you haven't been back down here in your Grandparents stomping grounds you need to come. You wouldn't believe the number of new and planned subdivisions. I'm talking 600 homes on 200 acres. Reach out the bathroom window and shake hands with your next door neighbor's hand out his bathroom window close. The trinity is not the answer. It's being sucked dry. Friends with who we call the local water warden (you'd recognize the last name) He has to approve all new wells and he's really worried. Folks are getting 20 gal/min out of their wells for about 20 minutes and then have to wait several hours for them to replenish. City of New Braunfels is fixing to drill 6 more wells west of town and they're thinking they are going to get 600 gal/min out of each. Good luck with that. We got major water problems here in Comal county

We have a spring fed creek on our ranch. Since we live here and operate it, I've been able to periodically check in on it. Over the summer, it did stop flowing. It's 20-30' deep in spots so it never ran out of water. At any rate, after 3" rain a few months ago, it came up and flowed for a few days and then it went back down. That was a runoff event fill. However, after this last rain, the level came up and the creek is currently flowing and 100% full. It's not to the level it was last year but it is flowing. This is an indication that the aquifers are recharging. I'd expect all of the wells that have run dry to start working again before too long.

It's not just Texas. I drove across the Mississippi River at Vicksburg in mid October and have never seen it so narrow and low.
If it's any consolation, we got 6 feet of snow this past week in the Utah mountains, which means the Colorado mountains also got a lot of snow and this may be a stormier and wetter winter given the weather trajectory so far.

I bought 230 acres in milam county in October 2020.

The old man I bought it from had signed a 30 year lease to sell water to San Antonio.

I get a check for $700 per month for my water

Made much more $ selling water than I ever did on my mineral rights near Giddings

Sounds like more reservoirs on the west TX rivers will be the only long term solution. Theyll tax the users to cover the crazy immanent domain cost to acquire the land. Can only imagine the hissing and gnashing of teeth that will entail. The sooner the better though.

G-Town Cracker said:

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Bunch of people in Dripping Springs are having to have water trucked in

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Yep water trucks still running around busy. The rain we have received has been small amounts which is good and bad. Good that it has grass back up especially now the winter grass. I was worried about big rain that would wash away my precious dirt. Bad that it hasn't been enough to recharge underground supplies.

redaszag99 said:

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I bought 230 acres in milam county in October 2020.

The old man I bought it from had signed a 30 year lease to sell water to San Antonio.

I get a check for $700 per month for my water

Made much more $ selling water than I ever did on my mineral rights near Giddings

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The bureaucracy Post oak Savannah Water District (Milam and Burleson counties) permitting that water transfer also assured landowners in those counties, that the export of water would have no effect on their private well(s). The reality is about 100 wells have either required being replaced, or at best, lowering the pump to the new artesian pressure level.
The water district is typically paying for the required work, but that's minimal comfort for those without previous problems.
And if you are outside of that district (maybe northern Lee county), and also effected....tough, you're on your own.

Three years of La Niña hurts.

We shift to an El Niño cycle for a couple years and we will be back to complaining about flooding 3 times a year.

Several customers by lake Travis have been told their well will be ****ty and to do both rain water and well, but if you don't get rain then what? It's a huge problem that needs to be addressed but like said above the government isn't the best to deal with it.

I've Been in New Braunfels since 2003. I haven't complained about too much rain since 2008. Even the flood of 2015 was just a weekend.

CS78 said:

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Sounds like more reservoirs on the west TX rivers will be the only long term solution. Theyll tax the users to cover the crazy immanent domain cost to acquire the land. Can only imagine the hissing and gnashing of teeth that will entail. The sooner the better though.

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We've coasted along as a species for a long time. We've had the luxury of resource availability far outpacing our need. Funny thing about exponential population growth though. Our resources don't do that. This whole human race experiment will sort itself out eventually, but we will kick and scream to 'fix' it. We will kick the can down the road via eminent domain, but it won't fix anything without a serious population correction. It's funny to watch stuff like this as if THIS will solve the problem...yep yep yep. When in reality, we just push it down the road a little more until it becomes someone else's problem.

This entire situation is exactly why civilizations don't last long and why we will never know if there is other life outside of this planet.

We will see the same thing with food because its way better to have a 300 acre shopping mall than it is to have a 300 acre crop. 500 acre pasture...F--- NO! Let's cut that beetch up into 1/8 acre lots and slap some houses on it (and then complain about water shortage and send nasty emails to people because their yard is brown).

UTExan said:

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It's not just Texas. I drove across the Mississippi River at Vicksburg in mid October and have never seen it so narrow and low.
If it's any consolation, we got 6 feet of snow this past week in the Utah mountains, which means the Colorado mountains also got a lot of snow and this may be a stormier and wetter winter given the weather trajectory so far.

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Yup, Lake Minnetonka up here in my neck of the woods in Minnesota is at some it's lowest levels in a century. But more so to drought than over development.

Our two wells in northern Kimble Co. Have not run dry, but since no one lives there we only use minimal water (livestock and wildlife). My father used to say that in the future they'll be fighting in the streets over water in San Antonio due to their lack of foresight and how quickly the Edwards Aquifer can be drawn down these days by the ever growing population. Guess he was only a decade or so off on his predictions…..

maroonblood90 said:

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Our well in Real county went dry last summer. We ended up installing a cistern so we can truck it in. The Frio River is as low as ever am an indicator that the groundwater is nowhere near what's needed. Hopeful that with relief from the drought the springs and aquifers will stabilize again.

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I fully expect the Frio to go dry in the next 20 years and only run in wet years. It's sad but too many people are punching wells into the Edward's. Even in normal years, the average flow isn't what it used to be.

I hope you are working, but can't argue against it happening.

I agree. I posted earlier this year that the Frio as most know it is dead.

The hill country historically had thicker sold and grasslands, not rocky hillsides. Rain had time to soak in. Combined with the ranchitos, water wasting species, and flash-flood drainage, the Frio will go dry.

What part of Utah? Drove thru there coming home from Idaho in July. Great views.

Plenty of water in Se Tx. 12 inch water well will still pump 3,000 gpm with the pump set at 260'. I guess it's too far to pump it uphill to the hill country. Luckily the Llano River ran all summer.

San Antonio is way too big and covering anything they can with asphalt, concrete or drainage canals that don't recharge what we need. Water is THE commodity. Too bad, but it won't be managed well at all. I feel bad for all the small towns that people flock to and drill a well and then waste the water. This is a dead end we are hurtling towards, same as ignoring nuclear for this green fantasy feel good bull *****

We'll soon be telling our kids and grandkids about the good ole days when a glass of ice water cost $0.