Groundwater Level Monitoring Results for HTGCD Transducer Wells and Wimberley Valley Public Water Supply Wells, Hays County, Central Texas

Topic: Water-Level Monitoring
Source: The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
Format: Report
Year: 2018

The Trinity Aquifer of central Texas is a critical groundwater resource for water supply, ecological, and recreational uses. However, limited continuous water level data exists to characterize the aquifer system. Accordingly, in 2008, the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) initiated a water level monitoring program across central Hays County that involved installing continuous data recorders. One of the purposes of the program was to determine the relationship between groundwater levels and discharge from Jacob’s Well Spring (JWS) and flow in Cypress Creek. Water level monitoring of the Middle Trinity aquifer across the Tom Creek Fault Zone(TCFZ) indicates the zone partially restricts horizontal groundwater movement from the up dip recharge area into the deeply confined down dip units. The karst nature of the surficial Lower Glen Rose (and underlying units) allows for rapid recharge from precipitation events that is transmitted almost instantaneously as discharge from JWS. Response to major precipitation events is more muted in the deeper Middle Trinity aquifer down dip of the TCFZ.