Background
The Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) is a groundwater district mandated by the Edwards Aquifer Authority Act adopted by Texas lawmakers in 1993 and put into effect in 1996. The Authority manages and regulates the portion of the Balcones Fault Zone Edwards Aquifer around San Antonio – a jurisdictional area of more than 8,000 square miles across eight counties. These include all of Uvalde, Medina, and Bexar counties as well as parts of Atascosa, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Comal, and Hays counties. The Edwards Aquifer Authority produces drinking water for more than two million people.
The Authority heads up the Aquifer Science Research program (ASRP) which conducts a series of studies evaluating current water quality and availability in the Edwards Aquifer. Additionally, the Authority has overseen implementation of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). Developed in 2007, the HCP outlines several conservation measures that could be taken to protect threatened and endangered species found in the Edwards Aquifer-fed Comal and San Marcos springs.
