Heat, drought, population growth stress aquifers that supply millions

Almost every other day, Charlie Flatten gets a call about another local water well gone dry.

Last week, he tried to help one woman find a water truck to fill her home cistern. But all the hauling companies had suspended service amid a deepening shortage in Central Texas.

“She’s got to go find somewhere else to live,” said Flatten, general manager of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District in Dripping Springs. “This is extremely serious.”