First in 2000 and again in 2005, 2010 and 2015, San Antonio voters elected to support a one-eighth-cent sales tax to protect land over the environmentally sensitive Recharge and Contributing Zones of the Edwards Aquifer via the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program (EAPP). Most of the properties are protected through conservation easements, legal agreements between the City of San Antonio and local ranch owners that limit development and other activities that may impact the water quality or quantity entering the aquifer. In return for placing a property in a conservation easement, landowners are compensated a portion of the appraised value of the land.

In 2008, the EAA joined with the City of San Antonio in an interlocal cooperation agreement to provide geological assessment and easement monitoring in support of the growing program. There are currently more than 150,000 acres of land protected under conservation easements, with several thousand more acres planned in the future. The EAA continues to perform geologic evaluations on the prospective properties and conducts the annual monitoring essential to the integrity of the program.

Learn more about the current and potential impact of the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program.

In collaboration with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the EAA offers financial assistance in addition to NRCS funding for selected beneficial practices in the EA SRC. Selected practices eligible for funding are listed on page 3 of the EASRC Brochure as Primary Focus zones for landowners approved through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Although the EAA and NRCS are program partners, the applicant must make a separate EAA funding request to be eligible for EAA funds. The EAA funding reimbursement for each project will be a single payment. The amount will depend upon the number of applicants in each calendar year but could represent up to a maximum of 20% of the constructed cost. The specific payment to the applicant will be determined late in each calendar year when the number of applicants is known.

To be eligible for EAA funding, the applicant must be approved by the NRCS for EQIP funding, demonstrate the practice is complete, provide the EAA access to the applicant’s site conservation plan, and enter into a reimbursement contract with the EAA. The EA SRC is anticipated to be a five-year program that terminates in 2020. The EAA will update which practices will be funded for the following year when the annual budget is passed in December.

Please refer to the following links for more information on the Edwards Aquifer State Resource Concern:

• EASRC Brochure (PDF)
• EASRC Program PowerPoint
• EASRC Reimbursement Process Forms and Contract (PDF)

And for the NRCS SRC EQIP Participation:

• How EQIP in Texas Works
• How to Apply for the EQIP Program
• Texas EQIP Fact Sheets

To protect and preserve the region’s primary groundwater supply, the EAA requires notification of spills of regulated materials (PDF) that occur over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone.

In addition, the EAA may make recommendations to state and local authorities and third parties regarding the level and type of response to spills that could threaten the aquifer’s water quality. In such situations, the EAA’s role is that of a cooperative resource. However, the EAA reserves the ability to take all appropriate actions to cease or prevent the pollution of the aquifer.

More information regarding the EAA’s spill reporting rules can be found under Chapter 713, Subchapter E, of the EAA rules (PDF). Download the Report of a Spill or Unintentional Discharge Form.

Spill Report Submission

If you have any questions, please contact:

• Kyle Craig, CPESC-IT, CESSWI – Manager Recharge Zone Regulation,
• (210) 222-2204
• (800) 292-1047.