Water in the Texas Desert

The Story of the San Solomon Springs System

Introduction

This is a story about water that flows out of the ground near the small town of Balmorhea in far West Texas.

For more than 11,000 years, a system of six springs has delivered fresh groundwater to the surface for people, plants and animals. 

Today, threats to the spring water are many—recurring and more intense drought, increased water demand, over-pumping groundwater, incomplete science on source waters, and undeveloped policy on how to best protect it.

Recently, the San Solomon Springs System has been the focus of scientists and landowners working collaboratively to better understand this water in the desert — with the intention to keep the springs flowing for ages to come.

Still, many questions remain. What are the sources of water? Where does it recharge? Is it all connected? How is it being used? How long will it last?

These questions are explored as we take a closer look at the San Solomon Springs System through the voices of the people who know it, love it, use it, manage it, swim in it, study it—and want to keep it flowing.


Place

Where in the world is San Solomon Springs?


History

Native Americans used these springs long before explorers and settlers came to the area.   

Deep in what is present-day West Texas, Jumanos developed their own complex political alliances, trading networks, and farming practices. They lived along rivers and near springs, where they raised corn, squash and beans. Drawing by Frank Weir and text from Bullock History Museum, used with permission.

There is evidence that ancient irrigation ditches from various springs were likely constructed and used by Native Americans to grow food crops.

In 1849, the springs became known as Mescalero Springs for the Mescalero Apache who watered their horses here.

Mexican farmers called the springs “San Solomon Springs” and dug canals by hand to irrigate crops.

With plentiful water and the arrival of the railroad, a cattle ranching industry emerged in the 1880s.

In 1927, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation dredged some of the springs and constructed canals to better harness their flow.


Springs System

Six springs make up the San Solomon Springs System. 

Springs are an expression of groundwater making its way to the surface. In the West Texas desert, springs are rare and special. They mean life and create community.


Stories from people of the region.

Please stop to listen. Click audio buttons below.

Where does the spring water come from?

When groundwater flows to the surface, it exits through springs and becomes surface water.

Research has determined that all springs within the San Solomon Springs System are sourced from the same regional underground flow system, much of it consisting of very old and slow-moving groundwater from far to the west and southwest.

Rainfall in the Davis and Apache mountains has also been traced to the springs. After high intensity rain events in the mountains, the rainfall percolates into the groundwater and ultimately flows eastward to the springs.

Scientists admit there is more to learn and continue to seek funds and access to study the springs.


Please stop to listen to a research scientist.

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Balmorhea Pool

Largest spring-fed swimming pool in the world!


Words from people of the region.

Rare and Endangered Species Live Here

Water from the pool is channeled through man-made ciénegas before it enters the irrigation canals and travels about 3.5 miles east to Balmorhea Lake.

A ciénega is a desert wetland system unique to the American Southwest, usually associated with seeps and springs.

The San Solomon Springs System, including the ciénegas at Balmorhea State Park, form a protective environment and habitat for rare and endangered species, including:

Two fresh­water spring snails • the Phantom springsnail • the Phantom tryonia

One  crustacean  • the Diminutive amphipod Two species of  fish  • the Comanche Springs pupfish • the Pecos gambusia

The endangered Comanche Springs Pupfish (left) are found only in Phantom Lake and San Solomon springs. The primary threat to the survival of the Comanche Pupfish and Pecos Gambusia (right) is the loss of the spring-fed waters that provide their habitat.


Words from people of the region.


Balmorhea Lake

Located 2 miles southeast of town, Balmorhea Lake is another local asset with cabins, fishing, and eco-tourism due to the volume of migrating birds that stop over heading north in the Spring and south in the Fall.

Serious birders know it as a great place to find western species of shorebirds, ducks, grebes, and sometimes gulls.

The lake is roughly 640 surface acres and holds 8,000 to 9,000 acre-feet of water—water from San Solomon Springs, Toyah Creek and rainfall from the Davis Mountains.

Migratory birds find a welcome stopover in the desert.

The lake and land around it are managed by the Reeves County Water Improvement District No. 1. (see Managing Surface Water below)

A full lake in February is good news to start off the growing season. 


Farming in the Desert

Balmorhea has been a farming and agricultural community since humans discovered enough water here to grow food.

Today farmers are raising cotton, alfalfa, wheat, sorghum, Bermuda grass —even watermelons.

All lands within the 10,000 acres served by the local irrigation district are irrigated with water from San Solomon Springs and rainfall from the Davis Mountains.

These water resources are stored in Balmorhea Lake and distributed through an aging canal system built in the early 1900s.


Stories from people of the region.

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Managing Surface Water

Reeves County Water Improvement District #1 (WID#1), a.k.a. the irrigation district, was formed in 1912 and irrigation canals were built from Phantom Lake Spring, which is now dry. Irrigation water in Balmorhea Lake is moved to farmlands through 46 miles of canal.

The district is managed by five elected board members serving four-year terms.

Canal runners employed by the irrigation district move water through the canal system using manually operated wooden gates, as it has been done for more than 100 years.

Farmers pay the irrigation district $25 per acre per year for water, but often don’t farm 100% of their land, especially in dry years.


Words from people of the region.


Managing Groundwater

The San Solomon Springs System is in the Reeves County Groundwater Conservation District’s jurisdiction. The GCD is relatively new—established in 2015.


Stories from people of the region.

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The groundwater conservation district has authority to manage groundwater to protect springflow, but additional science and coordination with landowners and groundwater conservation districts in other counties is essential to inform durable and long-lasting solutions to protect springflow.

Surrounding GCDs include: • Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District • Jeff Davis Underground Water Conservation District • Hudspeth County Groundwater Conservation District • Middle-Pecos Groundwater Conservation District


Stories from people of the region.

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Comanche Springs

A Cautionary Tale

Paisano Pete still greets visitors to Fort Stockton.

Approximately 50 miles east of the San Solomon Springs System is another historically significant springs system called Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton. Recorded discharge from Comanche's primary spring in the early 1900s was 42 million gallons a day (mgd)—more than 2.5 times greater than the flow of San Solomon spring today at 16 mgd.

By the 1930s, spring flow at Comanche declined to roughly 28 million gallons per day due to groundwater pumping for crop irrigation. Still there was sufficient flow to support a spring-fed swimming pool and an annual Water Carnival that brought thousands to Fort Stockton in celebration of water in the desert.

Fort Stockton, a once-thriving destination

Irrigation pumping continued to diminish the spring flow—to 17 million gallons per day in the early 1950s and down to about three-million gallons per day in the mid-1950s, the famous period of drought.

Lawsuits were filed—ultimately ending in a Texas Court of Civil Appeals ruling that supported the 1904 Rule of Capture and the right of landowners to pump groundwater with impunity.

The springs never recovered from the combination of increased pumping and the drought of the 1950s. Comanche Springs stopped flowing altogether in the early 1960s.

The loss of water had a devastating effect on area farmers—and on the town of Fort Stockton.

Where Comanche Springs once flowed. In 2020, hydrogeologists began studying what it would take to bring Comanche Springs back to year-round flow. Answer? Paying farmers not to irrigate.

What happened to Comanche Springs could happen to the San Solomon Springs System from unsustainable groundwater withdrawal.


Stories from people of the region.

Please stop to listen. Click audio buttons below.


The Science

The study of Solomon Springs System began decades ago and continues today. A conceptual flow model of the springs system identifies two main sources of water.


Stories from scientists and people working in the region.

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To further the science, two main items are needed:

1)     Funding to perform the research, and

2)     Access to land in areas where more defined springflow information is needed.


Respect & Protect

The San Solomon Springs System is unprotected by rule or regulation, leaving it potentially vulnerable to the same fate as Comanche Springs.

To protect the springs, more science is needed to better understand where the spring water originates, where it recharges, and how it’s influenced and connected.

Science can and should drive solutions to keep the springs flowing.

Landowner engagement in the Davis Mountains and Culberson, Jeff Davis and Reeves counties is a critical part of the solution. 

The goal is simply this:

Sustained flows to the San Solomon Springs System

For the communities of Balmorhea and Toyahvale,

For ranchers and growers,

For the fish, birds, and other wildlife who live here,

For the largest spring-fed swimming pool in the world,

For the thousands of annual visitors,

For a time when local communities come together to take care of something precious—

Like water in the Texas desert.


Credits

Water in the Texas Desert, the Story of San Solomon Springs is a project of the Environmental Defense Fund of Texas.

Funds for this project generously provided by: The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation The Meadows Foundation Shield-Ayres Foundation

EDF project lead:  Dan Mueller EDF project team: Vanessa Puig-Williams Ronna Kelly Avalon Fajardo-Anstine

We are grateful to the many people who gave us their time and knowledge during audio interviews for this project listed (in alpha order) below:

John Davis Mayor, City of Balmorhea Nick Havlik Regional Natural Resource Coordinator, Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. Scott Holderman Board President, Reeves County WID #1, Farmer Angel Maxwell Balmorhea resident Blake Murden CEO Shield Land Stewardship Group, Shield-Ayres Family Ranches Rebecca Nunu Research Scientist/Groundwater Hydrologist, SwRI Greg Perrin General Manager, Reeves County GCD Neta Rhyne Owner, Toyahvale Desert Oasis & Funky Little Dive Shop Jack Sharp, PhD Professor Emeritus, Jackson School of Geosciences, UT-Austin David Smith Owner, The Eleven Inn, Balmorhea, TX Ryan Smith Freshwater Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy Meg Timmerman Board member, Reeves County WID #1, cattle raiser Larry Turnbough Board member, Reeves County GCD, cotton farmer Kirby Warnock Pecos County Historical Commission, Documentary filmmaker

 Thanks to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for express use of images and video.

 Illustrative maps and sketches by LVBrown Studio

 Music: Song, Settler, by Balmorhea (the band)

 Primary photography and design by Kevin Greenblat

 Story map produced for EDF by WaterPR, San Marcos, Texas

 ©Environmental Defense Fund, 2023.

Deep in what is present-day West Texas, Jumanos developed their own complex political alliances, trading networks, and farming practices. They lived along rivers and near springs, where they raised corn, squash and beans. Drawing by Frank Weir and text from Bullock History Museum, used with permission.

The endangered Comanche Springs Pupfish (left) are found only in Phantom Lake and San Solomon springs. The primary threat to the survival of the Comanche Pupfish and Pecos Gambusia (right) is the loss of the spring-fed waters that provide their habitat.

Migratory birds find a welcome stopover in the desert.

Paisano Pete still greets visitors to Fort Stockton.

Fort Stockton, a once-thriving destination

Where Comanche Springs once flowed. In 2020, hydrogeologists began studying what it would take to bring Comanche Springs back to year-round flow. Answer? Paying farmers not to irrigate.