157 Exploring Groundwater Recharge and Management: Managed Aquifer Recharge and Other Innovative Tools for Water Supply Development and Operations
Growing demand for water has highlighted the need to understand aquifer recharge to improve groundwater management and production methods. This session explores groundwater recharge and innovative water supplies and infrastructure. Topics include evapotranspiration, vadose zone processes, brackish groundwater desalination, managed aquifer recharge, stormwater management, and others.
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 209
Everything’s Bigger in Texas, Especially Our Map Areas – Mapping Brackish Groundwater Throughout the State
Paper number: 157-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:25 AM – 9:45 AM
Authors
Abstract
The Brackish Resources Aquifer Characterization System (BRACS) department of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) was established in 2009 by the Texas legislature to map and characterize the brackish portions of the major and minor aquifers of Texas to promote the development of brackish groundwater. To date, the BRACS department has completed 17 brackish aquifer studies (both in-house and contracted), five are ongoing, and 10 are pending. BRACS studies rely on publicly available data, and to-date we have accumulated over 100,000 geophysical well logs for an average spacing of 1.7 miles throughout Texas. These well logs, along with associated well data and interpretations, are part of the BRACS Microsoft Access database, which is publicly available and downloadable online.
BRACS studies follow a general framework: 1) Data mining for publicly available well data, 2) interpreting stratigraphy and lithology from geophysical logs, 3) mapping salinity with both measured water quality from sampled wells and calculated water quality from geophysical logs, 4) calculating in-place storage volumes of brackish groundwater, and 5) evaluating the brackish aquifer for potential production zones. Brackish groundwater production zones must be buffered from existing groundwater wells and from waste-water injection, and must not negatively impact overlying or lateral fresh groundwater (water levels or water quality) over 50 years of pumping. BRACS study deliverables are available to the public online on the BRACS webpage, which include comprehensive reports, GIS data (study-specific and state-wide datasets), geophysical logs and well reports, and the BRACS Microsoft Access database. GIS and BRACS database data include stratigraphic and lithologic interpretations, water quality calculations, water quality analyses, aquifer test data, and well construction. The BRACS datasets and reports are of use to anyone working on groundwater resources in Texas.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6
doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412127
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