One Water New Braunfels Roadmap Report

Authors: Sarah Richards, Cassandra Harrison, and One Water Working Group

Water is not just a commodity – it permeates a way of life, especially for those living in New Braunfels, Comal County as well as the Texas Hill Country. It is part of our identity and plays a key role in our quality of life. As Comal County’s and Texas’s population continues to see exceptional growth1, it is key to protect our water resources as our water supply cannot grow at this same pace. Thus, access to clean, clear, accessible, and abundant water resources is a challenge going forward. In fact, competing demands for water will create incredible challenges for local and regional watersheds and those entities charged with managing water resources. To add to the water challenges is the typical extreme fluctuations in water availability for Central Texans. Times of drought, such as the drought of 2011 in which central Texas witnessed 60 consecutive days of 100-degree weather, are often bookended by extreme incidents of flooding.

To address the above competing challenges which stresses our local and regional watersheds, a dedicated team of professionals across disciplines and agencies came together to address the urgent need for integrated, holistic water planning. The team, including staff and leadership from New Braunfels Utilities, the City of New Braunfels, the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, guided by a group of industry experts, collaborated to identify an approach to maintain and preserve local water resources for the benefit of current and future generations.

The team used the One Water approach in their work to create a One Water Roadmap. A One Water approach, defined by the Water Research Foundation (WRF) is an integrated planning and implementation approach to managing finite water resources for long-term resilience and reliability, meeting not only the economic needs but also community and ecosystem needs. The One Water methodology requires thinking of water as a single system and recognizes that all water flows including stormwater, rainwaters, and wastewater – are viable water resources. Successful implementation requires greater collaboration between our community leadership to plan our conservation strategies, water quality efforts, drainage plans, land use plans, etc. for more holistic management of our water resources.

Using a One Water framework the New Braunfels One Water team, over the past year, convened to identify strategic and actionable ways the entities could work together and with the community, to transition to this water management approach for New Braunfels and surrounding areas. The following key objectives were identified as essential to maintain a high quality of life in the greater

New Braunfels community:

• Plan for and manage water resources holistically and sustainably

• Maximize environmental, social, and economic benefits to New Braunfels

• Ensure water remains a celebrated feature of our community

• Build a community of water-conscious citizens

• Provide a sustainable and resilient water supply for people

• Ensure high-quality drinking water & water quality that meets the standards for its intended use

• Improve health of local watersheds, waterways, and groundwater resources

The above objectives are refined into five vision elements which include detailed objectives, strategic directions, success indicators, vision targets and action plans including short-term, mid-term and long-term goals, some being aspirational. The One Water Roadmap Report should be viewed as a working document, a guide for driving cross agency cooperation and community engagement, and a long-term vision for holistically managing our water resources. As more stakeholders are included in the process, actions may change but the overarching vision needs to remain unchanged: “To ensure [that] water remains a celebrated and protected feature of our community by collaboratively managing our water resources to safeguard watersheds, waterways and groundwater”.

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Source:  One Water New Braunfels

Publication Year:  2021