This time last year, Jacob’s Well was rushing with water. Today, there's barely a trickle.
The popular swimming hole in Wimberley is basically at zero flow, according to the United States Geological Survey. That means water isn't moving into it from the local aquifer.
Although there’s been some rain this week in the Hill Country, Katherine Sturdivant, the Hays County Parks Department education coordinator, said things aren’t looking good for the summer.
“This is not the flow we would be expecting and it's closer to what we would see in the dead middle of summer,” she said. “Everything’s just been really unusual the last few years.”
This could be the fourth year in a row that Jacob’s Well won't be open for swimming.
“We’re going to need a significant amount of rainfall to see normal flow from Jacob’s Well this summer, and I’m really not sure that we’re going to see that,” Strudivant said.
There’s a history of drought in Central Texas, but Jacob’s Well doesn’t have a history of drying up, and it’s happening more and more frequently. Neighbors believe these low water levels are a sign of trouble ahead for the growing community as water becomes a scarce resource.
With ongoing drought and county growth, the Trinity Aquifer, which feeds Jacob's Well, has less water going in and more water coming out.
Conditions worsened at Jacob’s Well after the utility company Aqua Texas pumped nearly twice the amount of water it was allowed in 2022, David Baker, executive director of the nonprofit The Watershed Association, said. Aqua Texas is still challenging fines against it.
”It's very frustrating to have this outside big corporation not abiding by our community standards and actively trying to overturn those in federal court,” Baker said.
Jacob’s Well hasn’t had a consistent flow since June 2022.
“The problem is that right now there are so many people dependent on this resource that we’re using all the water right as it goes in,” Sturdivant said. “We just need to put more water back in it.”
One thing that may help, she said, could be a program called aquifer storage and recovery, where water is injected into an aquifer to replenish it. Baker said the region could also plug into the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer. Cities in Hays County are already on track to do that. Another solution would be to simply use less water from the Trinity Aquifer.
Sturdivant said it’s tough to see the water in Jacob’s Well dwindle, and it’s taking a toll on Hays County Parks staff.
“We work at a park because we love the environment, because we love talking to people, and there really haven’t been many of them around,” she said. “There’s just a different energy at the park. ... It feels disappointing.”
Although swimming is suspended, the Jacob's Well Natural Area remains open to the public for activities and workshops.
