The Edwards Aquifer and its recharge zone spans multiple counties and provides water to more than 2 million people.A new exemption law now in effect puts San Antonio’s main source of drinking water at greater risk for environmental degradation,Get the latest San Antonio news delivered to your inbox every morning.Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
Environmental advocates see the new law as a blow to efforts to add land protections for the Edwards Aquifer, which supplies drinking water for about 2 million people in the San Antonio area. The aquifer supplies about half of the potable water utilized by San Antonio Water System and spans across eight Central Texas counties.
The petition to disannex must contain signatures from more than 50% of the registered voters or a majority in value of the titleholders of land in the area. See the full list of petition requirementsAfter these properties are released, they are subject only to county and state regulations, which are often far less strict than the municipal ETJ regulations, she said.
Texas is already seeing ill effects from this new legislation, said Annalisa Peace, GEAA’s executive director. Peace said that GEAA has been working with several small towns in Hays and Travis counties that have seen developers who own properties already utilize this new law to avoid having to adhere to aquifer protections that are in place.
“By including an exception for these areas, the legislature acknowledged ETJ regulation by cities was beneficial both to the natural environment and to rational subdivision development near these military bases,” she said. “There’s no reason why these same benefits would not apply in other ETJ areas throughout the state that are not located near military installations.”