During the first week of December pink tap water flowed into the sink of a Dripping Springs area homeowner. After a few phone calls the mystery was solved. Scientists had poured red dye into the bed of Onion Creek the day before. The dye flowed rapidly, over a mile, into the Trinity Aquifer, and was pumped out and into the homeowner’s sinks and bathtubs. The connection of Onion Creek surface water flowing into local groundwater supplies is now clearly established.

The dye tracing test confirms that Onion Creek surface water recharges the Trinity Aquifer through its fractured rock-bottom creek bed. It also confirms that if the City of Dripping Springs discharges treated sewage into Onion Creek, this too would flow into the Trinity Aquifer and into potentially hundreds of local wells of local families that depend on the Trinity Aquifer for their water.

“There are more than 200 water supply wells near or downstream from the proposed sewage effluent discharge within a mile of Onion Creek. Four of these are public supply wells.” said Dr. Lauren Ross, P.E., Ph.D.

Thanks for our friends at Protect Our Water for breaking this story!