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Texas agencies reported 252 new cases of groundwater contamination during 2023 in the Texas Groundwater Protection Committee annual report.
The latest report compiles 2,870 open cases of groundwater contamination, some of which date back decades. Nearly every county in Texas is impacted by the problem. During 2023, Texas regulators notified 34 local authorities — from El Paso to Houston — that newly-identified contamination could impact their public drinking water. An additional 289 property owners were notified that groundwater contamination may impact their private wells.
Groundwater contamination is costly to remediate and can linger for years or indefinitely. Public water utilities test their wells for regulated contaminants and shut off wells when necessary. But the contamination risk is more insidious at private water wells, which are not subject to water quality standards.
Texas relies on groundwater from aquifers for about 55% of its water supply. As the population grows and the climate changes, groundwater will make up an even larger piece of the pie. Texas voters created a $1 billion fund in 2023 to develop more water resources for the state, including desalination of brackish groundwater.
“Any groundwater contamination is a cause for concern,” said Adam Foster, the director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts. “It needs to be reported properly and addressed.”
Annual report summarizes contamination
The Texas Groundwater Protection Committee brings together nine state agencies and TAGD, the alliance of groundwater districts. The protection committee coordinates the activities of these agencies under Texas law, which requires that “groundwater be kept reasonably free of contaminants that interfere with present and potential uses of groundwater.”
The committee releases an annual report on groundwater contamination confirmed in the previous year. This year’s report, released in October, covers groundwater contamination documented in 2023. The report, and a map with the location of existing groundwater contamination, is available on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality website.
TCEQ, the state’s environmental regulator, and the Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas drilling and other extractive industries, both document cases of groundwater contamination in their jurisdiction for the report.
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Eighty percent of the existing contamination cases, or 2,321 cases, fall under the TCEQ. The remaining cases are with the Railroad Commission.
Currently there are 224 public water supply wells that are considered contaminated, according to the report. There are approximately 17,900 public water supply wells in th
