SAN ANTONIO -- A coalition of government agencies and Texas State University are set to embark on a novel watershed conservation program that environmentalists hope could serve as a model for this entire drought-weary state.

The aim is to protect the flow of spring water in an area of the Edwards Aquifer in central Texas, one of the state's most important watersheds. The state is under a court order to develop a plan to maintain the flow of springs there to preserve the habitat of endangered species.

But a lack of action from lawmakers in Austin has led to a grass-roots approach, one that's being encouraged by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

For about one more month, the public may comment on a draft environmental impact statement recently issued by the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program (EARIP). The open process is necessary because the coalition is required by federal law to receive an incidental take permit from FWS, according to the Endangered Species Act.

The step is a precaution, as EARIP's organizers fear they may inadvertently kill some of the species they are trying to protect in the longer run. But the bottom-up approach to watershed conservation will in the long run ensure the species' survival, they say. It could be replicated elsewhere across Texas, where a rapidly growing population and threat of continuing drought are making the need to conserve more important than ever.

"We're going to protect spring flow," Robert Gulley, a researcher at the Edwards Aquifer Authority, said during a recent public meeting discussing the proposal. "We're going to make sure that the springs keep flowing, and we're going to make sure that they flow at a level that's suitable for the species."

The sponsors of the EARIP program include the Edwards Aquifer Authority, San Antonio Water Systems, Texas State University, and the cities of San Marcos and New Braunfels.

Can a lawsuit save 2 springs?

The initiative is the result of a lawsuit and court order years in the making. At issue is the protection of a handful of endangered species native to the springs that EARIP is targeting, including the Texas blind salamander, the fountain darter, Peck's cave amphipod (a tiny aquatic cave-dwelling insect), a species of beetle and Texas wild rice, an endangered plant species.

By working with landowners and communities, the team behind the plan hopes to launch a set of initiatives that will ensure that the San Marcos and Comal springs and the river systems connected to them keep flowing, even in the event of a recurrence of a "drought of record" of the sort Texas experienced in the 1950s.

Officials say that back then, Comal Springs dried up completely for 144 days at the height of that decadelong dry spell. But given the higher population in the region and the expanded use of water from the Edwards Aquifer for agriculture and urban uses today, researchers say their latest study shows that a '50s-style drought now would see the springs dry up for 39 months if nothing is done, likely leading to the extinction of species reliant on the system.

But Kevin Connally, an FWS ecologist based in Austin, acknowledged that the principle behind EARIP goes well beyond simple compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

"It's kind of a canary in the coal mine concept," Connally said. "If the water flowing out of San Marcos and New Braunfels isn't safe for the salamanders and fishes that live there, clearly there could be a problem with the drinking water. It's important to use those species as a barometer for the quality and quantity of water that's available for human use."

Ideas to preserve the flow of water, even in severe drought conditions, include implementing regulations to control how much groundwater is pumped out of the aquifer during periods of drought. The team believes paying landowners to conserve water and limit their pumping could also be an effective means of achieving its aims. New regulations governing recreational use of the springs and river systems may also come into play.

Another idea proposes moving water from the affected area in times of relative abundance into a neighboring underground storage system. EARIP team members believe this water could be pumped out and diverted to the spring system during droughts.

Better land management practices and efforts to restore degraded portions of the Comal and San Marcos springs systems are also on the table. Throughout the proposed eight-year grass-roots conservation program, the team plans to continually research the impact of changes to the flow of the water system as a result of changes to pumping rates.

Rescue comes with a stiff bill

The program it has in mind won't be cheap. Gulley estimates the cost of implementation to average out to $18.6 million per year over its initial lifetime. Costs could exceed $20 million during the first year but are expected to decline to around $17 million later on.

Organizers insist that doing nothing would cost far more, considering the potential economic damage from a major drought should federal rules dictate much sharper cuts in groundwater pumping. Gulley said EARIP hopes to secure some federal funding in the future but is looking regionally at the outset.

"Right now, the principal funding sources are the aquifer management fees; there are going to be contributions from nonpumpers, from downstream interests that have a benefit from the fact that springs are going to be flowing," he said. "We're going to continue to look for other sources of revenue to help pay for this."

Though this regional, locally organized watershed protection initiative is unusual as a court-ordered approach and uses the Endangered Species Act as its impetus, Laura Huffman of the regional chapter of the Nature Conservancy sees potential to expand this type of project across Texas.

"I think that this kind of coalition is what's exactly what we're going to have to be doing statewide in order to address both water supply issues but also water quality issues," Huffman said. "Cities should be interested in figuring out how to work with agriculture in order to reduce water supply needs. That can be done through replacing irrigation equipment; that can be done through lining channels, laser leveling fields. All of those strategies free up water for other users."

The public comment period over the draft environmental impact statement concludes in the middle part of next month. FWS officials say it will take a few more months of review before an incidental take permit may be granted, or EARIP organizers hope to launch their initiative early next year.