EAA 20 years

The Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) is a regional water management agency that regulates the use

of the aquifer through integrity, transparency,

and respect for the resource and the people that

use it.

The EAA Act was adopted by the Texas Legislature in 1993 in response to the legal threat of a federal

takeover of the aquifer under the Endangered

Species Act. The Act created the EAA as a political

subdivision of the state to preserve and protect

the Edwards Aquifer. By mandating a capped

permitting system that limits withdrawals from

the aquifer, the Act was intended to preserve

the aquifer while also protecting threatened and

endangered species in the aquifer-fed Comal

and San Marcos springs to the extent required

by federal law. Legal challenges related to the

passage of the Act delayed the EAA operating

until June 1996.