City of Kerrville returning to normal ASR operations

Due to recent rains, the City of Kerrville now has an opportunity to return to normal in the management of its aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) operations and is currently treating river water to drinking water standards.  The water is being stored in the Lower Trinity Aquifer reservoir and is intended to be used during the coming summer months.

The City of Kerrville has been a pioneer in ASR efforts in the State of Texas for more than 30 years and has been able to store and recover water at regular intervals while maintaining a stored balance of more than 830 million gallons of drinking water.  The city’s two ASR wells could supply the city’s “potable” drinking water needs for approximately three quarters of a year (294 days at 3.4 million gallons per day.

The city’s other water sources include surface water from the Guadalupe River, and Nimitz Lake.  These two water sources account for approximately 80 percent of the city’s drinking water during normal weather conditions.  Groundwater from the lower Trinity and Ellenberger aquifers provide approximately 20 percent of the city’s drinking water and can augment shortfalls between community demand and surface water availability when needed.  The city’s Reuse Water Storage Facility stores more than 95 million gallons of non-potable water for irrigation by large industrial users who previously used groundwater for a majority of their irrigation needs.  Reclaimed water volumes eliminate the need to use approximately 260 gallons of community drinking water per year for irrigation purposes, which equates to what almost 3,800 households utilize annually.

For more information, visit www.kerrvilletx.gov/81/Water-Production.