From Rain to Drain: Touring the San Antonio Water System

San Antonio annual rainfall cannot support a city of our size, so where does our water come from?  We are situated on the South Texas Plains near the Chihuahuan Desert and at best have a semi-arid climate, putting water at a premium.  We get most of our water from a surprisingly large underground source known as the Edwards Aquifer which has been described as one of the worlds great natural resources, and our city could not exist without it.  I was intrigued enough last fall to join about 40 interested residents, including engineering students from a local university, at the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) Conference Center to spend a day learning the story of our water system.  In my previous post I discussed a new study to quantify how much water our landscape plants really require.  In this post I'll share the fascinating process of how San Antonio water goes from rainfall to our homes and gardens, since it is a unique story.

After an introductory talk from our SAWS guides we were on our way by chartered coach to Stone Oak Park in far north San Antonio for the first stop on our tour and the answer to the first of our questions about the aquifer: how does water get into the underground aquifer?  Our guide invited us to explore Cub Cave in the park to see the first steps in the process.