Balmorhea Springs Water Study
Catfish and the endangered Comanche Springs pupfish at Balmorhea State Park’s spring fed pool fed by the San Solomon Spring system.
The pool at Balmorhea State Park is the largest spring of the San Solomon Springs system—a series of six springs located in Balmorhea. While many studies have been conducted to learn more about the sources of water to the Balmorhea pool, there is a need to better understand how interconnected the springs may be with one another, and if the springs are fed by similar sources. BBCA and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) teamed up for a three-year research project to better understand the connectivity of the San Solomon Springs system.
Rebecca Nunu, SwRI researcher collecting water samples at Balmorhea State Park.
The exact source that keeps the San Solomon Springs system flowing—known as recharge—is not well understood. The relationship between the three larger of the six springs—San Solomon, Phantom Lake, and Giffin—has been studied in the past. The SwRI study’s goal was to collect additional data from the other three springs in the San Solomon Springs system—East Sandia, West Sandia, and Saragosa.
SwRI researcher setting up a probe at East Sandia spring.
The six springs are neighbors, but have never been analyzed collectively. SwRI collected samples from the six springs and three groundwater well sites in different aquifers across Jeff Davis and Reeves counties to determine which geochemical fingerprints could be traced to the areas where spring waters come to the surface — known as discharge areas.
SwRI determined that:
Water chemistry of spring discharge supports the idea that source areas vary among the springs — this finding is important because it tells us that the San Solomon Springs system relies on multiple sources of springwater to function
Spring discharge quantity and quality varies in response to drought, rain, irrigation practices, and groundwater pumping — this finding highlights how variable weather and groundwater pumping conditions impact spring discharge quantity and quality
In general, the source areas to all six springs are west and northwest of San Solomon springs — this finding helps us pinpoint important recharge zones that source the springs system
Research like this helps add another piece of data to the San Solomon Springs puzzle and provides more information to understand the quality and quantity of spring flows into Balmorhea.
Hydrologic Conceptualization of the Balmorhea Spring Complex in the Lower Delaware Basin has been generously funded by the High Tide Foundation and the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation.