Water Wonks Hour Lecture Series #1: Water Reuse in the Hill Country:  Analyzing Opportunities in Comal County Texas

BIO: Rachel Hanes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX and a Master of Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She has multiple years of experience in the environmental and water policy fields and in working within and with nonprofits and local, state, and federal governments.

Before joining GEAA, Rachel served for three years as a program analyst for the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the Reclamation Law Administration Division and later in the Colorado River Binational Program, working to help manage and conserve water in the West. Rachel has also worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council on their decarbonization efforts, the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure on their Complete Streets and green infrastructure initiatives, the Tarrant County Tarrant Transit Alliance, the Office of Congressman Joaquin Castro, the League of United Latin American Citizens on environmental issues along the border, and the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio on local water issues.
A Texas native, Rachel grew up in Fort Worth and made frequent trips throughout Hill Country. After short stints in Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, and Denver, Rachel is thrilled to be back in San Antonio, where she can merge her interests in water and environmental policy with her love of her home state and adopted city.

SYNOPSIS: We invite you to join The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance in our new online monthly lecture series as we discuss our recently released report Water Reuse In the Hill Country: Analyzing Opportunities in Comal County, Texas. The report outlines opportunities to employ recycled water to alleviate the burdens placed on the Edwards and Trinity Aquifers by focusing on the state of recycled water use in Comal County. Water reuse – using reclaimed and treated wastewater – is an integral step in ensuring that counties in the Hill Country will have the water supplies needed to ensure the health, safety, and quality of life of residents in the years to come.

Water Reuse In the Hill Country: Analyzing Opportunities in Comal County, Texas underscores both the long way Hill Country counties have to go in implementing water reuse systems and the unique opportunities to do so within their boundaries by creating water reuse districts with flexible boundaries throughout the study area.

Based on our findings in the report GEAA recommends that the Texas House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee conduct an interim study to examine legislative opportunities for the creation of wastewater reuse districts for irrigation and industrial use in the fast-growing areas of Comal County and the Texas Hill Country.

As evidenced by the state of water reuse in Comal County, this source of water is a vastly underutilized tool in the fight to manage the Hill Country’s water supplies in the face of prolonged drought and presents a clear opportunity to better preserve our natural resources for the generations to come.

An opportunity for Q&A will take place at the end of the presentation.