A Grassroots Gathering

On October 13, the Hill Country Alliance hosted the second Grassroots Gathering of Water Advocates meeting in Bandera, TX. At least 25 water advocate groups, including both non-profits and governing authorities were
invited and most attended. The Pedernales River Alliance was represented by Katherine Peake and Deborah Youngblood.

The day started with a tour of the Bandera waste water treatment facility. The rest of the day included the following indoor presentations:

    • Drought updates by Marisa Bruno, Water Program Manager, HCA and Dave Mauk, General Manager, Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District.
    • Championing One Water in the Hill Country by Nick Dornak, Director of Watershed Services, Meadows Center for the Environment and Robin Gary, Managing Director, Watershed Association.
    • Goals and Strategies for the 2023 Legislative Session by Danielle Goshen, Policy Specialist/Counsel, National Wildlife Federation
    • Engaging Our Communities Effectively, a discussion of how grassroots groups can effect change and consider the actionable goals for each of our organizations, led by Cliff Kaplan, Program Director, HCA.

We learned that many of the Hill Country’s water issues are very similar. For example, the City of Bandera is treating and discharging approximately 150,000 gallons of treated wastewater daily. Currently this discharge is going into an dry creek that feeds into the Medina River. Many of you know this practice is one that many would like to see stopped as the  effluent accumulates and is washed into the river at the next rainfall. See Hill Country Alliance’s Myths and Truths on this topic.

The city of Bandera is currently trying to locate land to build a new more modern facility, but demand for and availability of suitable land is slowing the process. Meanwhile a new grassroots group, The Hill Country Resources Rescue, in Comal County was recently formed in response to an application for a proposed new wastewater treatment facility to serve over 700 new homes. The permit would allow up to 260,000 gallons of treated domestic wastewater to be deposited daily into Cypress Creek and then into the Guadalupe River, according to the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality documents.

The above examples show how existing communities, including Gillespie County, are dealing with water shortages, waste water, aging infrastructure, and new rapidly growing developments. Meanwhile new grassroots organizations are being formed to address the water and waste water issues, which are not being adequately addressed by existing regulations and governmental institutions.

Source: Most of this post was taken from the Llano River Watershed Alliance newsletter article as their rep took better notes than I did. &:)

What’s a Watershed?

A watershed is a system, land that drains rain and melting snow to creeks and then rivers and eventually, the ocean. Most of us here in Gillespie County live in the Pedernales River Watershed. Near the headwaters of the Pedernales are two areas of land where water drains to a creek and each land area draining to each creek is a watershed. One creek is called the Klein Branch and the other is called the Banta Branch. These two creeks join together and become the Pedernales River. As the Pedernales River flows eastward, there are many more creeks that feed into it. Each of these creeks is a sub-watershed of the Pedernales River Watershed.

The Pedernales River Watershed extends into Blanco County and then on to Travis County, where you will find the mouth of the river at Lake Travis which was formed by damming the Colorado River. The Pedernales River is a sub-watershed of the Colorado River.

Now, pull out a map and trace along the route of the Pedernales River and you can easily see how many communities depend upon this river for water. Ultimately, even Austin depends, in part, upon our River as does a state park, an LCRA park, a national park and numerous county and private parks. These are very good reasons for keeping our River clean.

The kinds of things that can adversely affect our River’s water quality include runoff, littering, excess fertilizer, and malfunctioning sewage systems.

Fast flow of water draining to Grape Creek
Fast flow of water draining to Grape Creek

Runoff includes sediment. Who knew dirt could be a form of pollution? Weird but true. When dirt is washed into the river from large construction sites, it’s just too much of a good thing.

Littering is an easily preventable source of pollution – just don’t do it! And even if you did not, go ahead and pick it up anyway. That’s called being a good citizen. Litter can get into drainage systems and ultimately affect the health of the river.

 

Excess fertilizer can wash out of your yard, into the drainage system, into the creek and on to the river. It can wash out of farms, too. This is called non-point pollution because we cannot always pinpoint where it comes from but you can be sure that when the river is choked with thick, green algae, fertilizer might just be the source. The solution? Plant native plants that love the sandy loam and clay soil around here and you won’t have to fertilize. Put in native grasses instead of turf grasses that need to be fertilized and watered to be pretty.

Baron's Creek below the Sewage Treatment Facility Outfall
Baron’s Creek below the Sewage Treatment Facility Outfall

A big source of pollution is malfunctioning sewage systems. Reality check, we need our septic tanks! But we CAN make sure they are working correctly. If the grass over your septic tank and drain field is nice and green, your septic system may be leaking. A septic system’s drain field that is working properly usually looks pretty rough. Investigate to find out what is making your grass so unexpectedly and beautifully green.

Another source of pollution comes from treated wastewater. Sewage treatment facilities clean sewage and then release the cleaned water into creeks and rivers. The only problem with that is a huge problem: the water contains phospates and nitrogen, the same nutrients in fertilizer. Algae love it and a creek of river contaminated with treated wastewater will become clogged with green algae in short order. The correction to this is to clean wastewater to make it potable or to use the treated wastewater to water golf courses, lawns, and other non-food sources.

Bottom line, the Pedernales River watershed is a system that includes you. Doing your part to keep the Pedernales River Watershed clean will help keep our River clean.

 

 

Exceptional Drought

What does it mean for the Texas Hill Country, specifically Gillespie County, to be in “Exceptional Drought?”

First, look down. The soil has become dry and hard with large cracks. Because soil moisture is low, dust or sand storms can occur. Hard dry soil makes it difficult to plant crops. 

Look to your neighbors’ pastures and notice that forage is stunted and dry. Pasture conditions have become poor. Some are having to purchase supplemental feed for their livestock because hay production is reduced, crops are stunted. Irrigation is required but, even for irrigated crops, yields are down. Pastures become empty as producers sell off livestock. Entire herds are sold.

Reach down and touch the bits of grass that still cling to the soil. See how brittle and dry it is and know that this is now fuel for grass fires. As the afternoon winds pick up, sucking all remaining moisture from the air, wildfire danger becomes severe. Burn bans were instituted months ago but now, violators are fined and we are cautioned against fire pits and bbq’s and parking cars on grass. We know that our entire world can change with one careless flick of a cigarette.

With each passing day, our water table drops. The city of Fredericksburg restricts lawn watering. Surcharges on excessive water use begins and rationing of water begins to be considered a viable course of action. Fountains cease jetting water. Bulk sales of potable water will be prohibited next. 

This is where we are right now-we are in an “Exceptional Drought.”

For those living outside of the city limits, water rationing is self-imposed. Most of our wells are not metered. Times like these make water rationing with the use of metered wells seem like not such an unreasonable method of reducing water usage. 

In this county, we depend on our wells to see us through the summer. At the rate we are going, many wells won’t make it. Residential wells, especially the more shallow wells, are extremely vulnerable. The aquifer seems like a  mysterious water-filled place but in reality, an aquifer is not just an underground pool of water. Instead, water flows through the limestone in rivulets and channels. As the water table drops and the underground channels go dry, wells begin to dry up. The only recourse is to drill deeper but how deep is too deep? We do not know.

Pedernales River @ Jung Lane. Exceptional Drought. 7-03-2022
Pedernales River @ Jung Lane

The geology of the Texas Hill Country is limestone with lots of holes and channels. It is called karst geology and it has taken millions of years of erosion to create this underground drainage system. We know that as surface water, in rivers, creeks and lakes, dries up, groundwater-the water that flows through the karst, our only remaining source of water, is drying up, too.

We look for every person, every family, every tourist and every company to conserve water. Right. Now. What can YOU do to conserve water?

  • Fix those leaky faucets
  • Put a brick in your toilet tank
  • Water only when you are allowed to by the city
  • If outside city limits, water only once a week in the morning
  • Limit the length of showers
  • Take a bath instead of a shower – only the shortest of showers uses less water than a partially filled bathtub
  • Install low-flow shower heads
  • Don’t just let the water run while you are brushing teeth, shaving, doing dishes or anything else!
  • Wash only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine 
  • Proudly drive your dirty car
  • Mulch trees and plants
  • Plant native plants
  • Think positive-get a rain barrel hooked up to your gutter system
  • Restaurants-only serve water on request
  • Businesses-turn on your sprinkler systems and check to see if they water the street. If they do, fix them. 
Pedernales River @ Goehmann Lane. picture taken 6-19-2022
Pedernales River @ Goehmann Lane

Sources:

National Drought Mitigation Center https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?TX

NOAA
https://www.drought.gov/states/texas

Hill Country Underground Water District
https://hcuwcd.org/

Texas Water Development Board
https://www.twdb.texas.gov/newsmedia/drought/doc/weekly_drought_report.pdf

Ways to Use Water Wisely: 100+ Ways to Conserve Water
https://wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve-water/?view=list

 

Runoff

The Water-Cycle
The Water Cycle

When it rains,  runoff is the water that does not soak into the ground; it is the water that runs downhill, into the manmade drainage systems. It is the water that runs to the creeks and rivers to the oceans. It is the water that is not soaked into the earth, and does not recharge the aquifer. Runoff tends to move rapidly carrying with it trash, sediment and debris.

Surface runoff enters the downhill flow almost immediately flowing to the surface waterways. Sub-surface runoff leaches into the soil and moves laterally without joining the water table, to the stream, rivers or ocean is known as sub-surface runoff. Rainfall which infiltrates into the soil and meets the water table and flows to the streams is very slow is referred to as delayed runoff.

Runoff is generated as long as the rainfall intensity exceeds the actual infiltration capacity of the soil. The soil, like a sponge, can only hold so much. Runoff stops when the rate of rainfall drops below the actual rate of infiltration. In other words, when the rain slows down to a rate that is slower than the absorption rate of the soil, runoff drops.

Factors Affecting runoff rate include

Climate factors:

  1. Types of Precipitation: It has great effect on the runoff. When it rains runoff starts immediately. When it snows, the snow does not immediately result in surface runoff.
  2. Rainfall Intensity: If the rain comes down faster than the soil can absorb it, runoff happens. If the rain comes down slowly, runoff happens when the soil cannot absorb any more water. If it rains a lot then a lot of runoff is generated.
  3. Duration of Rainfall: If the rain continues over a longer period of time, runoff happens because the soil cannot absorb all of the rain.
  4. Rainfall Distribution: Runoff from a watershed depends on where the rain falls. If rain falls near the outlet of watershed, runoff will be more.
  5. Direction of Prevailing Wind: If the direction of prevailing wind is the same direction as the drainage system, it results in peak low. A storm moving in the direction of stream slope produce a higher peak in shorter period of time than a storm moving in opposite direction.
  6. Other Climate Factors: Other factors such as temperature wind velocity, relative humidity, annual rainfall etc. affect the water losses from watershed area.

Physiographical Factors:

  1. Size of Watershed: A large watershed takes longer to drain than smaller watershed and vice-versa.
  2.  Shape of Watershed: Shape of watershed is generally expressed by the term “form factor” and “compactness coefficient”. Form Factor = Ratio of average width to axial length of watershed. Compactness Coefficient: Ratio off perimeter of watershed to circumference of circle whose area is equal to area of watershed. Two types of shape:
    1. Fan shape – tends to produce higher runoff early
    2. Fern shape – tends to produced less runoff
  3.  Slope of Watershed: The slope controls the time of overland flow and time of concentration of rainfall. Slopping watersheds result in greater runoff due to greater runoff velocity and vice-versa.
  4.  Orientation of Watershed: This affects the evaporation and transpiration losses. The north or south orientation, affects the time of melting of collected snow.
  5.  Land Use: Land use and land management practices have great effect on the runoff yield. An area with forest cover or thick layer of mulch of leaves and grasses contribute less runoff because water is absorbed more into soil.
  6.  Soil moisture: Magnitude of runoff yield depends upon the initial moisture present in soil at the time of rainfall. If the rain occurs after along dry spell then infiltration rate is greater, creating less runoff.
  7.  Soil type: In filtration rates vary with type of soil.
  8.  Topographic characteristics: Undulating land has greater runoff than flat land.
  9.  Drainage Density: The longer and wider a watershed area the greater the runoff
  10.  Storage Characteristics:
    1. Depressions
    2. Ponds, lakes and pools
    3. Stream
    4. Channels
    5. Check dams in gullies
    6. Upstream reservoirs or tanks
    7. Ground water storage in deposits/aquifers

Runoff is part of the water cycle. It cannot be eliminated. We can slow it down so that the water can soak into the soil, reduce erosion and sediment displacement.

Riparian Areas

Riparian Areas

These areas begin at the river's edge or your creek's edge and extend outward. They include the flood plain but more importantly, they are unique; they are different than the land beyond.

The soil in a riparian area has layers of sediments with varying textures. These layers are subject to intermittent flooding and they can be affected by fluctuating water tables near the surface.  They are not always wet or damp. The wetness of the soil depends on the water levels of the river or creek.

a healthy riparian area with a variety of plants and trees
An Example of a riparian area bordering a seasonal creek. Picture taken July, 2020.

 

Because these riparian areas are adjacent to the river or creek, they have more water available to them than other areas further beyond the river or creek. This means that the vegetation is more likely to be different along the riverbanks or near the creek. It also means that, with the help of the vegetation, a healthy riparian area can store water, like a sponge.

Riparian areas are directly influenced by the water in the river or creek. If the creek is polluted, the effects will be evident in the riparian area. If the river dries up, the vegetation in the riparian area may suffer.

A riparian area can be alongside a river, a creek, a lake or even a manmade ditch, canal or reservoir or even a stock tank.

  1. Dissipates the energy of rushing water: the water rushing through a flooded river or creek can be extremely powerful.
  2. Reduces erosion: the roots of trees and other plants can protect the soil from erosion, especially when the water is moving quickly.
  3. Traps sediment: old tree limbs and fallen trees can trap sediment slowing the rush of water.
  4. Stores water like a sponge: When the soil is full of roots from grasses, sedges, bushed and trees, it can absorb water rather than allow all of the water to become runoff.
  5. Slows down runoff: Water that runs off the land has no chance of recharging the aquifer. Instead, it cause erosion and loss of habitat and flows away toward the ocean.

The plants in a riparian area do the work. If a riparian area is bare, it is not healthy. If it has the wrong kind of vegetation it is not healthy. In fact, if riparian area plants do not look healthy and the water is not polluted, they are likely the wrong kinds of plants. A riparian area that is not healthy cannot do the things listed above, including survive low water or drought conditions. The right kinds of vegetation will help the soil hold water much as a sponge might.

View of the Pedernales River and the riparian areas on both sides of the river
A view of the Pedernales River and its adjacent riparian areas. Note the lack of vegetation and the erosion. Picture taken at Pedernales River, Hwy 87 Bridge, April, 2021

A healthy riparian area will have plants that like to have wet feet, meaning they may be happiest in or very near the water. These include Emory Sedge and grasses like knotgrass, switchgrass, eastern gamagrass, and bushy bluestem anchoring the soil. You might even find watercress and water penny wort.

You can also expect to find a variety of trees in a healthy riparian area. Some of the trees will be mature and some will be less mature. They will have varying ages. Some of the trees you can expect to find include Black Willow, Cottonwood, Box Elder Maple, Bur Oak, Live Oak, Water Oak, American Elm, Cedar Elm, Slippery Elm, Mexican Ash, Sycamore and Bald Cypress.

It is also likely that you will find Button Bush, Indigo Bush and Roosevelt Bush (Baccharis neglecta). Both Button Bush and Indigo Bush are popular plants in home landscapes while Roosevelt Bush is not. While it is not as pretty, it is the work horse of disturbed soil. A riparian area in very bad condition can be planted with Baccharis as an intermediate step towards stabilizing the shoreline and building the soil.

You are also likely to find dead trees and limbs that have fallen over into the water. These fallen trees will help trap sediment with whatever is left of their root ball. They will slow the flow of water, helping to dissipate the energy of the water flow and giving the water a chance to soak in to the soil. They become homes for all sorts of little critters and act as nurseries for small plants. Even dead wood is good wood in a riparian area.

Watch this video featuring Steve Nelle discussing riparian areas in the Texas Hill Country.