It’s hard to imagine a Hill Country bereft of winding rivers, fast-running streams, lazy creeks and deep, green swimming holes. Where would Mystic, Waldemar and Flaming Arrow campers go to canoe, swim and lounge? If the Blanco River no longer traveled through its distinctive white limestone streambed, would tourists still flock to the city of Wimberly?
Jacob’s Well, the swimming hole on Cypress Creek northwest of Wimberly, has already stopped flowing twice in the past couple of years. Yet misguided water policy proposals under consideration in the Legislature threaten to permanently harm the Hill Country’s scenic and life-sustaining waterways. Lawmakers must protect these precious resources and oppose the legislation that would loosen oversight of groundwater production laws.
Water woes: Texas lawmakers must protect our precious streams, creeks, rivers and watering holes
Right now a variety of permits are pending for water use in various aquifers that underlie the Hill Country. If all the pending permits for water use were issued, “water levels would drop several hundred feet beneath Hays County, potentially affecting Jacob’s Well, Fern Bank Springs and the Blanco and Guadalupe rivers,” according to environmentalist Jim Blackburn. Read more from Houston Chronicle