Pool Leak Detection and Repair in Selma, Texas

A leak you can't top up: Selma's aquifer plan

Selma's drought rules come from its aquifer management plan, Ordinance 061796-1, adopted on June 17, 1996. Its stages follow the Edwards Aquifer's J-17 index well in San Antonio, and the mayor declares each one:

• Stage I, Aquifer Awareness, at 655 feet;
• Stage II, Aquifer Watch, at 648 feet: new and existing private pools may still be filled, but drained water has to go onto ground that soaks it in;
• Stage III, Aquifer Alert, at 640 feet: filling and replenishing new and existing pools, public and private, is prohibited;
• Stage IV, Aquifer Risk, when water quality is at risk.

Violations carry fines of up to $200 each. The plan also says Selma follows the City of San Antonio's requirements and restrictions unless its council decides otherwise.

Where the aquifer stood on October 6, 2026

On October 6, 2026, the Edwards Aquifer Authority showed the J-17 well's 10-day average at 640.8 feet, and 642.6 feet that day. That is just above the 640-foot level where Selma's plan reaches Stage III. The authority had its San Antonio Pool in its own Stage 3, a 35 percent pumping cut for its permit holders. It says it doesn't regulate household water use: residents follow their city or water provider. Selma's published text names no declared stage, so ask the city's Public Works department for the current one.

Why lost water matters under a fill ban

Under a ban on replenishing, every inch a leak takes stays gone until the stage lifts. Finding the leak before Stage III arrives, rather than after, keeps more of the options open.

Where Selma's water comes from

The City of Selma runs its own water system. Two groundwater sources appear in its 2025 water report. One is a pair of Edwards Aquifer wells in Bexar County; the other is the Schertz-Seguin Local Government Corporation, whose wells draw on the Carrizo and Wilcox aquifers. The report includes that supplier's treated-water results from October 6, 2025: total hardness of 107 mg/L and calcium of 33.9 mg/L. It gives no hardness figure for the city's own Edwards wells.

Part of that supply is Edwards water, from the aquifer whose J-17 well sets Selma's stages. Whatever the source, water lost to a leak in Stage III can't be put back from the hose.

From stagecoach stop to Retama

Selma sits where the Old Austin Road, now Interstate 35, crosses Cibolo Creek, sixteen miles northeast of downtown San Antonio. The first settlers came in 1847. The city's own history puts the Harrison and McCulloch Stagecoach Stop here in 1849, moving passengers and freight between central, south and east Texas. A post office opened in 1856, and after German and Polish immigrants arrived in the late 1880s, the population reached 600 by 1896.

The city incorporated in 1964. The horse in its logo stands for the old stagecoach stop and, today, for Retama Race Track. Selma spans three counties: of the Census Bureau's estimated 11,955 residents on July 1, 2025, 7,853 lived in Bexar County, 3,770 in Guadalupe County and 332 in Comal County. Apartment complexes such as Citadel at Lookout, Lookout Hollow and Retreat at Chelsea Park sit alongside the subdivisions.