SMRF has long worked to improve local ordinances in order to protect the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer which feeds the springs of the San Marcos River. Working with a wide array of stakeholders with an interest in Texas future water needs has been a key strategy for SMRF in its efforts to protect the long-term health and flow of the San Marcos River. SMRF has served for decades on various stakeholder groups, steering committees and regional boards studying, directing and developing water policy in Central Texas
SMRF also serves on the steering committee of the Habitat Conservation Plan implemented by the Edwards Aquifer Authority designed to provide overall benefit to the springs systems and the species that inhabit those springs through habitat protection for endangered species which includes water quality improvements and flow protection. In effect now, the EAA and HCP programs encourage water conservation, leasing and storing water in the aquifer for future use and paying regional farmers to forego water intensive crops during droughts. A Refugia has also been set up to study the endangered species and learn more about their life-cycles and provide a sanctuary should flows of the river fall dangerously low and threaten their survival.
Find out what is going on in San Marcos and New Braunfels to understand the endangered species that live in the spring water, what is being done to improve water quality and meet the people making this happen. Sign up for the quarterly news magazine NEWS DROP and check out all the other resources available from the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA)
2020 Autumn NEWS DROP. 2020 Summer NEWS DROP.
As a member of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance SMRF works with a coalition of over 50 community, environmental, business and neighborhood organizations stretching from Del Rio to Austin to protect and preserve the aquifer, its springs and its hill country watersheds that sustain it.
