Meadows Center To Co-Host Blanco River/Onion Creek Water Forum In Wimberley On July 13

The BROC forum covers the Blanco and Hays County parts of the Blanco River and adjacent Onion Creek basins including Blanco, Wimberley, Woodcreek, Dripping Springs and unincorporated county land.

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS – The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University is co-sponsoring a Blanco River/Onion Creek (BROC) Water Forum on July 13 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Wimberley Community Center.

The BROC forum covers the Blanco and Hays County parts of the Blanco River and adjacent Onion Creek basins including Blanco, Wimberley, Woodcreek, Dripping Springs and unincorporated county land.

Wes Ferguson’s recent book, “The Blanco River” weaves “neighbors” stories along the river into a shared “neighborhood”. This forum expands this neighborhood into the adjacent similar Onion Creek basin, calling it the BROC neighborhood.

One wonders how we will live in this area with its karst geology, drought, and floods, facing unprecedented population growth. We BROC neighbors all face similar water related issues.  SOURCE– “Where will our water come from?”; UTILIZATION– “How can we use it more effectively and efficiently?”; and REUSE– “What will we do with it after we use it?”.  Get educated and updated on current water issues.

The BROC neighborhood covers a little over 1,000 square miles in the Blanco and Hays County portions of the Blanco River and adjacent Onion Creek basins. The area contains Blanco, Wimberley, Woodcreek and Dripping Springs municipalities, plus unincorporated county land.

Water in most of this area comes from groundwater in the Trinity Aquifer.  This aquifer is also the source of the iconic Jacobs Well Spring and Pleasant Valley Spring, and many dripping springs in the neighborhood.

9:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 13, the BROC Water Forum starts at the Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Road 12, 78676, with Exhibits and Meet & Greet time.  The forum’s target audience is your neighbors (property owners, elected officials and staff, ranchers, business owners, water and sewer utilities, groundwater conservation districts, master naturalists, and conservancies) located in the BROC.

10:00 a.m. there will be presentations by three eminent authorities: James Beach, hydrogeologist; Carlos Rubenstein, local, regional and state experience in resolving existing and future neighbor water disputes; and Weir Labatt,  experience in solving source, utilization, and reuse issues

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  Lunch is available for $10.

12:30 p.m. the presenters will join a panel of representative BROC neighbors to answer water issue questions from the audience.  The forum will conclude at 2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m. The forum will be concluded.

Plan to attend to get “your oar in the water”. Come and meet your BROC neighbors on a first name basis. For more information, visit http://events.txstate.edu/recurrences/47391 or contact David Glenn, VAGabond Chief, Hays Trinity Aquifer Volunteer Advisory Group at david.glenn@vownet.net or 512.557.3595. 

The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment was named following a generous gift from The Meadows Foundation in August 2012. The Meadows Center is dedicated to environmental research, stewardship, education and service, and is led by Executive Director Andrew Sansom, Ph.D.