Drying Up the Heartland: Texas Ranchers Battle Water Exports

How Texas Ranchers Are Losing Their Water to Urban Thirst—and Why the Fight for Groundwater Could Decide the State’s Rural Future

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Stretching across the rolling limestone hills of Central Texas, the ranches of the Hill Country are icons of the American rural landscape. Here, generations of families have carved out a living by coaxing life from the land, drawing water from deep, ancient aquifers. But in 2025, the flow beneath their feet is threatened as never before. Booming urban growth, insatiable demand, and lucrative groundwater export deals have set the stage for a historic battle—one that pits the survival of rural ranchers against the ambitions of Texas’ fastest-growing cities. Now, as ranchers like the Johnson family of Blanco County fight for their way of life, a flashpoint has emerged in Texas’s enduring “water wars”—a struggle that will decide who controls the state’s most vital resource.