Water Resource Phase

Center for Rivers and Aquifers

“One of the most important things to us is water.  That is probably the paramount thing.”

Mary West Traylor

The Witte Museum, residing along the San Antonio River, is the ideal place to tell the story of water in South Texas. The original waterway that channeled water to the Alamo, the 1719 Acequia Madre, traverses the Witte Museum campus. The Witte is just a few bends down the River from the Blue Hole where artesian springs burst from the underground Edwards Aquifer and converge with the Olmos Creek to form the San Antonio River.  

The Center for Rivers and Aquifers will be a place where people of South Texas can acquire an understanding of the fundamentals of water resources, including environmental, economic, social and political issues. Historical, scientific and cultural approaches to water will frame the museum’s public programming, including the development of permanent features, changing exhibitions, educational programs for school children, media presentations and conferences. Topics will range widely, touching on prehistoric water gathering, Spanish-era acequias and modern engineering and the precarious balancing of conservation needs and demographic change. Features of the Center for Rivers and Aquifers will make it a destination for South Texas residents and cultural tourists alike, who will come away with an enhanced perspective on this most precious of resources.

The Witte Museum is uniquely poised to launch this effort by building on its recent prototype exhibit and program successes and on its history of research, excavations, and collecting, including prehistoric water carriers, historic paintings and contemporary urban planning maps and photography, to establish a world-class facility on water resources.