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Austin uses 2018 bond money on Hays County land in bid to protect water quality


Austin buys more undeveloped Hays County land to protect quality of Austin-bound water. (Photo: CBS Austin)
Austin buys more undeveloped Hays County land to protect quality of Austin-bound water. (Photo: CBS Austin)
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The City of Austin is wasting no time spending bond money approved by voters in November. Voters okayed $72 million to purchase more lands to protect water quality. Already $10 million of that has gone to purchase 250 acres in rural Hays County.

Over the years Austin voters have approved millions of dollars to preserve the environment in areas like this. But the end game has always been preserving the quality of the water that flows from this land downstream toward Austin.

City Manager Spencer Cronk learned about Austin water in his first year here when Highland Lakes flooding left Austin's water undrinkable. He says, “As we've seen through the years, we need to make sure we can make the investments whether it's in our infrastructure or in protecting lands to ensure that we're going to have high quality water and create the environment that we want for the future."

That's why Austin has bought more than 28,000 acres of raw land over the last 20 years. The latest purchase is in Hays County west of Buda. It's important because rains that fall around there drain into this tract and into an underground aquifer that flows to Austin.

Water entering a whirlpool in Onion Creek on the property gets to Austin in just three days. Daryl Slusher, an assistant director at Austin Water says, “That emphasizes the interconnectedness of the aquifer in Hays County and Austin and how important it is to protect the entire Barton Springs area from pollution."

The city is restoring the land back to native savannas and prairies. Rainfall on the grasslands can soak directly into the porous karst aquifer underneath. Kevin Thuesen, environmental conservation projects manager for Austin Water says, "Over here over a karst aquifer where we can recharge that water immediately, we can avoid all that evaporation so that water can go underground rather quickly."

This system works, but it's getting harder all the time. Slusher explains, “It's definitely getting more expensive."


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