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The Gulf Coast Aquifer
Victoria County draws its groundwater from the Gulf Coast Aquifer, which forms a wide belt along the
Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Mexico.
In Texas, the aquifer provides water to all or parts of 54 counties and extends from the Rio Grande
northeastward to the Louisiana-Texas border.
According to the state of Texas, municipal and irrigation uses account for 90 percent of the total
pumpage from the aquifer. The Greater Houston metropolitan area is the largest municipal user.
The aquifer consists of complex interbedded clays, silts, sands, and gravels of Cenozoic age, which
are hydrologically connected to form a large, leaky artesian aquifer system.
Click image to enlarge
What is groundwater?
Groundwater is water under the ground in subterranean pools known as aquifers and typically accessed
by water wells. Water in rivers such as the Guadalupe River and in creeks such as Coleto Creek and in
lakes such as Saxet Lakes is classified as surface water, not groundwater. Our district has no management
authority over surface water.
Scientific information
The Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District intends to gather scientific information
in order to learn as much as we can about how to best manage our local aquifer.
Not much locally specific scientific data now exists concerning the aquifer beneath Victoria County. For
instance, we do not know with certainty how much water is there to meet the demands of local users. We
do not know with certainty how quickly the local aquifer replenishes pumped-out supplies with rain.
But we do have some information.
For instance, the state of Texas has a groundwater
availability model for the central Gulf Coast Aquifer, which includes the Victoria County area.
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