After Bastrop said no, Austin Water plans test wells in eastern Travis County for drought supplies. An open house is Nov. 12

Austin Water will hold an open house on Thursday, Nov. 12, on two projects meant to protect the city's water supply during droughts and emergencies, the utility announced Oct. 28. It is a drop-in event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Permitting and Development Center, Room 1405, 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive.

The two projects are part of Water Forward, the city's 100-year water plan:

• Aquifer storage and recovery would store treated drinking water underground in part of the Trinity Aquifer when supplies are plentiful, then pump it back out during a drought or emergency. Austin Water says the water would be tested before and after storage.
• Brackish groundwater desalination would pump up salty groundwater and filter out the salt and minerals to meet drinking water standards. The process leaves behind brine, which the utility says it will manage responsibly.

Starting in 2027, the utility plans to drill test wells on city-owned land in eastern Travis County and test water quality and core samples to see whether either idea works there. Project pages are at SpeakUpAustin.org/ASR and SpeakUpAustin.org/Brackish.

Why eastern Travis County

Austin Water first looked at Bastrop County. In November 2025, the utility pulled a proposed agreement with Bastrop County entities from the council agenda and stopped pursuing a project there, according to the city's Water Forward page and Community Impact. The project had drawn local opposition.

What our records add

The briefing. On May 18, Austin Water staff briefed the council's Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee on the new approach. Staff said the original plan, in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, would have yielded about 44,000 acre-feet. A Trinity Aquifer project would likely yield 15,000 to 20,000 acre-feet a year, about a third of that. That is why staff added brackish desalination to the testing, saying it could roughly double the yield and bring the city closer to the original target. For scale, staff said Austin uses about 170,000 to 175,000 acre-feet a year.

Staff also laid out a long timeline:

• site selection through fall 2026;
• test well drilling in spring 2027;
• a planning report by spring 2028;
• if the project moves ahead, a pilot phase of about 36 months, and then eight to 10 years to design and build a full-scale system.

Council Member Marc Duchen asked whether the utility had written up lessons from Bastrop. Staff said it had not sent the council a formal postmortem but had built what it learned into its community engagement plan. Staff said the testing would be paid from Austin Water's capital budget, with most of the cost in drilling.

The vote. On May 28, the council approved a $15,726,269 amendment to HDR Engineering's contract for the aquifer storage pilot and program management, for a total of up to $21,726,269. It passed on consent, 9-0, with Council Members Natasha Harper-Madison and Vanessa Fuentes absent. From the dais, Duchen said he was disappointed the Bastrop project derailed but glad to see the work moving forward.

At the Capitol. The council's 2027 state legislative program, adopted July 23, asks the state to support conservation, reuse and water supply strategies in the 100-year water plan.

What's next

Staff told the committee they would form a technical advisory group of hydrogeology experts to review the test plans and results. Questions can go to AW-ASR@austintexas.gov, according to the utility.