NewsDrop-February-2025

GENERAL MANAGER’S MESSAGE

By: Roland Ruiz General Manager

THE EDWARDS AQUIFER SYSTEM IS MOST VALUED WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES IN DROUGHT. OUR MISSION TO MANAGE, ENHANCE AND PROTECT

WE ENTER 2025 IN THE THROES OF A DROUGHT THAT HAS MANY OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORST DROUGHT IN RECORDED HISTORY – THE DROUGHT OF THE 1950S.

Comparatively, conditions today look a lot like they did at the start of 1956, in terms of aquifer levels.

The difference between then and now though is our capabilities to monitor and manage our water use through drought to mitigate its harsh est effects. We have a plethora of tools on which we rely – regulatory and voluntary -- to help slow the decline of aquifer levels and its springflows and, because of this, we have a cer tain resilience that can help us endure until the next rainy season.

So, we begin a new year with the Uvalde Pool in stage 5 and the San Antonio Pool in stage 4 of our critical period management plan, which translate to significant regulatory curtailments in the amount of authorized groundwater available for pumping from the Edwards Aquifer. Addi tionally, our Voluntary Irrigation Suspension Program Option (VISPO) is in effect for the third consecutive year, meaning that participating

farmers have contractually obligated themselves to forbear (not pump) water enrolled in this program in exchange for payment. The reason we remain in drought is clear we have experienced below average rainfall in vary ing degrees each year dating back to 2019 (as recorded at the San Antonio Airport). Cumulatively, this equates to a deficit of 61.8 inches over that time frame (2019-2024).

Thankfully, however, a water conservation ethic around the Edwards has taken root over the years as evident in the widespread use of high efficiency irrigation technologies and the growing efforts undertaken by water purveyors across the region to educate water users and work toward creative long term alternative water supply solutions.

And just as we are doing now, we will continue to lean on a resilience that continues to foster inno vative approaches to stretching water supplies, conserving the best we can, and improving the ways we steward recharge to the aquifer to safe guard its sustainability from drought to drought.

Droughts will come and go as in the past, albeit perhaps on a more frequent and intensive basis.

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