Edwards Aquifer Region Stakeholder Frame Analysis

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ABSTRACTThe 2011 drought was the worst single-year climatic occurrence in Texas's recorded history (Texas AgriLife Extension Service 2011). Texas must meet residential and economic development requirements of a population that will nearly double over the next fifty years and will require dramatic improvements in water conservation and reuse. Located in the south central region of Texas, the Edwards Aquifer is an underground karst formation with water flowing through it that has been at the center of controversy for more than sixty years. As the sole source water supply for nearly 2 million people in San Antonio, the controversy over the use of the Edwards Aquifer water centers on four major concerns: its limited physical structure, multiple users, potential contamination, and the potential loss of endangered species. This qualitative study uses interactional frame theory to demonstrate characterization and identity framing, and provides a definition of frame theory, its nature, and its development. This research employs the concept of framing to shape, organize, and focus on new agendas of today's stakeholders. The purpose of this study is twofold. The first purpose is to revisit a previous case study by Putnam and Peterson (2003), reevaluate the nature of the conflict since that time, and reexamine and possibly reframe, if necessary, any lingering unsolved arguments by the original stakeholder groups included in the 1980 through 1997 analysis. The second purpose is to discover the extent to which new conflict has arisen from today's stakeholder groups, as well as the intensity of that conflict compared to the 1980 through 1997 period of legal turbulence. The results of this study identify key stakeholder groups in the Edwards Aquifer region that, as a result of Senate Bill 3 in 2007, through a consensus-based approach, have successfully mitigated the intractable environmental conflict of the aquifer. The stakeholder process has implemented a habitat conservation plan to protect spring flows, downstream economic interests, and endangered species. However, lingering problems related to property rights issues and potential “takings” liability, as well as a voting rights lawsuit brought by the League of United Latin American Citizens and enjoined by the San Antonio Water System, threaten to unravel the process.