TGR NEWS - June 2023
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Weather Patterns Providing Significant Drought Relief
Statistics show that San Antonio has received 5-6 inches of rain in the last 30 days while some areas Southeast of SA have topped 10 inches.
The weather patterns and associated drought relief in South Texas are definitely trending in the right direction. Here’s how.
At the beginning of 2023, the U.S. Drought Monitor, which tracks weather patterns across the country, rated Bexar County as being 100 percent in either extreme or exceptional drought. Today, less than five percent of the county is listed as in extreme drought and zero in exceptional drought. With another heavy thunderstorm system passing through on Memorial Day, water levels in local aquifers like the Trinity Aquifer should continue to experience improvement.
Over the course of 2022 San Antonio experienced one of the driest years on record. However, as of the past weekend, the area had recorded more than 12 inches of rain, which outpaces all of 2022, according to the National Weather Service’s Austin-San Antonio offices. The average annual rainfall in Bexar County is around 30 inches, meaning Bexar County is on track for a normal year of rain.
“Over the last several months, we’ve tried to keep people updated with drought conditions because the amount of rainfall we receive directly impacts the health of the portions of the Trinity Aquifer our groundwater district is charged with protecting,” said Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District General Manager George Wissmann. “While it’s nice to finally be able to post a rainfall photo in our newsletter this month, we always want to encourage everyone to use water conservatively. With rainfall happening fairly frequently, please take advantage of it by making sure any automatic sprinkler systems are shut off. The ground is sufficiently saturated now to give us several weeks of moisture for our landscapes. Saving water is something that should be top of mind always, not just when we’re highlighting drought conditions.”
Go Gardening Provides Pros and Cons of Various Watering Devices
Here are some previews of topics covered in the June edition of the Go Gardening Show. It will be available for viewing on June 2.
The selection of landscape watering devices you will find in a big box home improvement store can be a bit overwhelming. As a water-saving conscious citizen, you would wonder which one is best for your landscape and water bill. That very question is why Go Gardening invited Mark Peterson, a well-known horticulture expert in San Antonio, to walk us through the most water-friendly and unfriendly types of landscape watering devices on the market.
In another June segment, local landscape designer Clay Cauthorn showed us around his own yard. If you are looking at enhancing part of your own landscape, don’t miss this segment with Clay. You will definitely get some inspiration and great design ideas from him. Plus, Clay is an advocate for using native plants and organic gardening and he explains why he’s very adamant about this type of landscape design he practices with all of his clients.
The final segment of the show celebrates Jack Elder who started his native plant landscape makeover 20 years ago. Jack was even recognized by the Texas Legislature for his active support of xeriscape landscape design in the early days of San Antonio’s water conservation best practices development.
Go Gardening is produced by the Trinity Glen Rose District and Gardening Volunteers of South Texas to focus on the importance of saving water through best practice landscape maintenance and design. You can watch the new Go Gardening episode at the Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater website or the Gardening Volunteers website.
TGR Board Meeting Moved to June 15
The next board meeting of the Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District will be held Thursday, June 15. Due to some scheduling needs, the board will be meeting on the third Thursday of the month rather than the traditional second Thursday. Please make note of that schedule change.
Did you know…
The Trinity Aquifer is a major aquifer that extends across much of the central and northeastern part of the Texas. The aquifer is one of the most extensive and highly used groundwater resources in the state.
Time to Have your Sprinkler System Checked
July through September is typically the hottest and driest stretch of weather we see in South Texas each year. Any by now you know that means that your water conservation knowledge and skills should be on high alert. Because landscape watering can account for up to 60 percent of the city’s water use during this time of year, the Trinity Glen Rose District always like to remind homeowners and business owners to have their sprinkler systems inspected before the systems are turned on for regular use. Wasted water cannot be retrieved, so you only get one chance to efficiently use the water provided by the city’s water resources such as the Trinity and Edwards Aquifers.
The quickest do-it-yourself way to check your system is to start it up and then inspect each of the sprinkler heads in all of the system’s zones. Look for broken heads or heads that have sunken below ground. Then make sure that the heads are not watering the streets and sidewalks. Then you can observe whether there is adequate water pressure feeding each sprinkler head. A broken pipe or sprinkler head can drain away pressure and waste significant amounts of water.
Also, if you have been slowly and steadily replacing high water use plants with native low water use plants, you might make sure that your sprinkler system either does not water areas with native plants or waters only a little.
Here is some great news for you. The Trinity Glen Rose District and San Antonio Water System have teamed up over the last few years to offer free irrigation system consultation programs. In fact, TGR will give you a $50 coupon to have the consultation done. Just go to www.TrinityGlenRose.com/conservation for more information.
TGR 2021 Annual Report
The Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District (TGR) just published its 2021 Annual Report. The TGR board reviewed the report in early March and approved the document for publication at its March meeting.
The 2021 Annual Report provides good background on the:
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purpose of the district
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district goals
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current leadership
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well monitoring work
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financial position, and
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community outreach programs
This year, the District included two charts which outline TGR’s involvement in regional GMA-9 joint water planning efforts required by the State of Texas. The charts provide a 10-year history of water use in the region and how that compares to the region’s goals for water production from the Trinity Aquifer. Those goals are known as “desired future conditions.”