BRACS Ellenburger-San Saba and Hickory Aquifers Study

Study Summary:

The TWDB contracted with LRE Water, LLC to map the Ellenburger-San Saba and Hickory Aquifers.

The goals of the study are to (1) map and characterize the brackish parts of the major and minor aquifers of the study area in greater detail using existing water well reports, geophysical well logs, and available aquifer data and (2) build datasets that can be used for groundwater exploration and replicable numerical groundwater flow models to estimate aquifer productivity.

The study area includes all or portions of the following counties: Blanco, Brown, Burnet, Coleman, Concho, Edwards, Gillespie, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Lampasas, McCulloch, Menard, Mills, Runnels, San Saba, Travis, and Williamson.

The objectives of the study are to:

  • collect, analyze, and interpret thousands of water well and geophysical well logs;
  • map the geological boundaries of the Ellenburger-San Saba and Hickory Aquifers;
  • map the distribution of total dissolved solids in the aquifers;
  • map the distribution of key chemical parameters of interest to desalination;
  • map the net sand distribution in the aquifers;
  • estimate the volume of fresh and brackish water in the aquifers;
  • incorporate newly created information into the publicly available BRACS Database and study GIS datasets;
  • prepare and publish study findings in a TWDB report.

TWDB Contract Manager:
Sydney Weitkunat, P.G.,
Funding Recipient:
LRE Water, LLC.
Contract Number:
2448302884
Project Manager:
Gretchen Miller, Ph.D., P.G., P.E.
Project Start Date:
April 2025
Project Completion Date:
TBD

Stakeholder Meetings