Austin-based journalist Ari Phillips traveled through Central Texas to learn about the state of the Hill Country’s springs and the groundwater underneath them. Phillips interviewed regional water experts, including Andrew Sansom, executive director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, on crucial water issues. As Sansom told Phillips: “We have a state where all of our watersheds, all of our recharge areas, all of the things that make the hydrologic cycle work are on private property because we’re a state that’s owned by private citizens. Yet we do absolutely nothing to protect those watersheds.” 

Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.