October 23, 2019 637 PM
BALMORHEA — A new study hopes to keep springs in Balmorhea from suffering the same fate as Comanche Springs.
The latter spring, in Pecos County, was once a noted “watering place and camping ground” for Native Americans, according to a Texas historical marker. Spanish explorers visited it as early as 1536. But as industry and agriculture took more and more water, the spring stopped flowing in the 20th century.
Now Balmorhea could also face a strain on its water supplies. Over the past several years, oil and gas production has skyrocketed in this slice of West Texas.
“Balmorhea is in the heart of the lower Delaware Basin,” said J.D. Newsom, executive director of the Big Bend Conservation Alliance. And estimates indicate it can take “almost 11 million gallons of water to hydraulically fracture a well.”
“To build out that southern part of Reeves County, we’re worried about this huge water depletion and this huge strain on the water resources,” he added. “We’re worried the water depletion could eventually impact such an iconic spring-fed pool” — namely, the pool at Balmorhea State Park.
With these concerns in mind, Big Bend Conservation Alliance teamed up with Ron Green, a hydrologist at the Southwest Research Institute, to study springs in the area.
Researchers have known for years that the San Solomon Springs system supplies Balmorhea State Park — the largest spring-fed pool in the world. But the source of the San Solomon Springs, as well as five other springs in the area — Phantom Lake, Giffin, Saragosa, West Sandia and East Sandia — has been somewhat of a mystery.
Without knowing the source of a spring, it’s harder to protect it or even know how much water is available.
As the Big Bend Conservation Alliance stated in its news release, determining the sources of these springs could help “explain why certain springs in West Texas, such as Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton, have dried up due to over-pumping,
while others continue to flow under similar pumping conditions.”
In a news release last week, the Big Bend Conservation Alliance announced its preliminary findings. Through testing water chemistry, the sources for Phantom Lake, San Solomon and Giffin Springs appear to be distinct from Saragosa, West Sandia and East Sandia.
Still, Newsom stressed that the findings still need to be confirmed.
“This is really just phase one of our work,” he said. “We’ll continue to study the springs to get a more definitive answer.”
The research, Newsom said, could help make informed water policies.
“The Phantom Cave Spring, for example, doesn’t flow to the surface anymore,” Newsom said. “They’re having to artificially pump water to the surface to protect those threatened and endemic species.”
