Senator José Flores introduced Senate Bill 2,159 as a measure to allow the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to approve aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) projects in Medina County that transect the Edwards Aquifer while preserving the existing prohibition on waste injection wells.

Temple Mangle, general manager of Yancey Water Supply Corporation, told the committee Yancey is among several Medina County utilities developing an ASR concept to address rapid population growth near Bexar County. He said the legislation "would allow Medina County the ability to move forward with the ASR project with the confidence that the state is behind us."

Cole Ruiz, representing the Medina County Regional Water Alliance, said the conceptual project could yield "around 12,000 acre-feet and up to 20,000 acre-feet a year, at full capacity," and that the project is included in regional planning and the state water plan. Roland Ruiz, general manager of the Edwards Aquifer Authority, told the committee the EAA had no objection and acknowledged technological advances since the original rule prohibiting injection wells through the Edwards.

Committee members asked technical questions about permits and how ASR storage would work in practice; witnesses said ASR would allow utilities to capture and store water in times of surplus and use it in drought years, while complying with EAA permit limits on withdrawals. The committee left the bill pending pending the House companion or further work; no formal vote was recorded in committee at the time of the hearing.