If you own a home on a private water well in Hays County — in Wimberley, Dripping Springs, Driftwood, or anywhere out on the limestone escarpment — you've probably noticed something in the past couple of years: your well isn't performing the way it used to. Maybe recovery is slower. Maybe your pump is running harder and longer to keep pressure. Maybe it's gone dry altogether.
You're not imagining it. Hays County is in the middle of a genuine groundwater stress event, and the trend lines are not moving in a good direction.
Most rural Hays County residents draw from the Trinity aquifer — specifically from the Middle and Lower Trinity formations that underlie the Hill Country. Unlike the Edwards aquifer to the south, the Trinity is not heavily regulated and has no centrally managed recovery system. Recharge is slow, discharge is fast, and the region has added tens of thousands of new residents in the past decade.
The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District has monitored persistent declines at multiple index wells across the county. In some monitoring locations in the Wimberley and Dripping Springs areas, water levels have dropped 20 to 40 feet from where they sat fifteen years ago. In a dry year following a dry year — which describes 2024 into early 2025 — that decline accelerates. Recharge events from heavy rainfall help, but the aquifer doesn't bounce back the way it once did when demand was lower.
If your well has gone dry: Don't wait it out. A dry well that runs the pump against no water can burn out the pump motor quickly. Call a licensed driller to assess your options before you lose the pump on top of everything else.
The Wimberley area has seen some of the most visible impacts. The shallow Trinity wells drilled in the 1970s and 1980s — many in the 200–350 foot range — are the most vulnerable. Properties on higher ground above the valley floor tend to have less robust water-bearing formations and are seeing the most significant declines. The Hays Trinity District's monitoring data shows this zone is consistently among the lowest-performing in the county.
Rapid residential development west of Austin has added enormous demand along the Highway 290 corridor. New subdivisions that went in with private wells in the 2010s are now competing with far more neighbors for the same aquifer. Older wells in this area were often not drilled deep enough to access the more reliable lower Trinity, and those are the ones struggling most.
These areas sit on the transition zone between the Edwards Plateau and the Balcones Fault Zone — geologically complex ground where groundwater behavior is less predictable. Well yields here can vary dramatically within a few hundred feet. If your neighbor's well is fine and yours isn't, you may be dealing with a localized issue that a driller familiar with this specific terrain can diagnose.
If your pump is set near the bottom of the casing and the water table has dropped below it, a driller can lower the pump to follow the water. This is the least expensive fix — typically $1,500 to $4,000 depending on depth — and works when there's still water in the formation, just lower than your pump can reach. It's a short-term solution if aquifer levels continue declining.
The Middle Trinity is the formation most wells in Hays County tap. The Lower Trinity, sitting below it, tends to be more reliable — but reaching it often means going another 100 to 300 feet deeper. Deepening an existing well or drilling a new one to the Lower Trinity is a more permanent fix, though it comes with a steeper price tag: expect $15,000 to $35,000 depending on current depth and formation hardness.
For wells drilled into fractured limestone that have lost yield — not because the water table dropped, but because fractures silted up — hydrofracturing can sometimes restore flow. A driller injects high-pressure water into the formation to reopen fractures. Results are mixed and location-dependent, but it's a less invasive option worth discussing with a driller who knows your area.
In some parts of Hays County, the Aqua Water Supply Corporation or another utility district has extended service close enough to make a connection feasible. It's worth checking whether you're in a service area before spending $25,000 on a new well. Monthly utility costs are ongoing, but a water co-op connection removes the uncertainty of a private well entirely.
Useful resource: The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (haystrinity.org) publishes current monitoring well data and can tell you how wells near your property have been trending. Pull this data before you call a driller — it'll help you ask better questions.
Get a well assessment from a licensed driller who works regularly in Hays County. They can camera the casing, test yield, and give you an honest read on what you're working with. A driller who has been working the Wimberley and Dripping Springs area for years will have drilled dozens of wells within a mile of your property and will know the formations at your depth better than any generic advice can capture.
The driller list for Hays County on this site is pulled directly from TDLR's active license database. Everyone listed holds a current state license.
Search Texas Well Finder for active TDLR-licensed water well drillers serving Hays County — including Wimberley, Dripping Springs, San Marcos, and the surrounding area.
Search Hays County Drillers →