San Angelo Zeroes in on Future Water Sources

CORRECTION: Previous versions of this article stated that the West Texas Water Partnership would drill for water from the Pecos Valley Aquifer. This was incorrect. According to officials with the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District, the land water would be drawn from lies within Pecos County but the land itself lies on a trend of the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer.

Drilling wells in Pecos County as part of the West Texas/Fort Stockton water rights partnership is on track, according to a report from Asst. City Manager Shane Kelton on Wednesday, saying the first steps to drilling will be achieved this year.

Though these projects tend to move on slower time scales, Kelton said that 8-10 years is a feasible timeline for full development of the project. The report was delivered to the City of San Angelo Development Corporation meeting.

According to information from the city, the West Texas Water Partnership secured water rights in 2020 for a 50-year contract, and represents a potential water acquisition of 28,400 acre-feet per year from a trend of the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer which runs into Pecos County, split with Midland and Abilene.

For context, the City of San Angelo uses a little more than 5 billion gallons of water annually, or just over 16,000 acre-feet. Each acre-foot is equivalent to 325,851 gallons.

Under the agreement, Midland and Abilene would receive 15,000 acre-feet and 8,400 acre-feet respectively, while San Angelo’s part would come from a water trade with Midland, securing an additional 5,000 acre-feet of water from O.H. Ivie Reservoir yearly.

While San Angelo retains the right to build additional pipelines from the Pecos to the city for their contracted 5,000 acre-feet, Kelton said that pipeline costs would not be feasible at this time.

Kelton said that they were in talks for potential future issues such as O.H. Ivie going dry, but did not have any share any specific details.

The West Texas Water Partnership began in 2011 following historic droughts which left cities in the region with less than 12 months of water supply, with the goal of securing water rights into the 2050s through 2070, when the current contract would expire.

Other possible sources included brackish water sources in Schleicher County and expansion of surface water gathering capabilities.

While the project would secure an additional 33-percent of what San Angelo currently uses per year, Kelton stressed that action was necessary to protect water production in the future. Projects like the Concho River Indirect Reuse proposal are still going forward, and he said that planners will be looking to the 2027 Legislative Session for guidance on future water sources.

What does the future of San Angelo water look like?

Fort Stockton overlies the Pecos Valley and Edwards-Trinity aquifers, but the water from this agreement would come solely from the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer, according to the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District.

As for future water projects, the indirect reuse water source proposed for the Concho River is still in progress, said Kelton, with development getting “hot and heavy” — this project would take wastewater filtered for EPA standards and place it back into the Concho for further filtration and purification to reach EPA drinking water standards. A process already in use in cities like El Paso, though they skip the step of placing the water back into the river for further filtration, instead filtering wastewater directly, a process called Direct Reuse.

Mr. Kelton again emphasized that overall water use was down for San Angelo and that conservation efforts following the droughts of 2011-2014 have been successful in decreasing water use by as much as 10 million gallons per day in the hottest part of the year, with an average use rate in the summer of around 25 million gallons per day.

Read more about San Angelo water in our past interviews with (then) Director of Public Works Shane Kelton: Four Questions About San Angelo Water