Comal County, Texas: drinking water report. Comal County north of San Antonio has about 161,000 residents, with New Braunfels as the county seat.
Comal County north of San Antonio has about 161,000 residents, with New Braunfels as the county seat. The county draws from the Edwards Aquifer and the Trinity Aquifer. Comal Springs in New Braunfels – the largest spring group in Texas – is fed by the Edwards Aquifer, making the county's relationship to aquifer quality direct and visible.
Comal Springs' discharge is a real-time indicator of Edwards Aquifer health. According to the Edwards Aquifer Authority's 2024 monitoring data, spring flow has varied from near-cessation during drought to over 400 cubic feet per second during wet periods. The aquifer's water quality at the springs shows very low contaminant levels – testament to the limestone's natural filtration – but trace emerging contaminants are beginning to appear.
New Braunfels' rapid growth has raised concerns about septic system density over the recharge zone. A 2024 Texas A&M Water Resources Institute study found nitrate increasing at 0.1 mg/L per year in Comal County monitoring wells – a slow trend that reflects the cumulative impact of thousands of septic systems.
Comal County's Edwards Aquifer water is among the cleanest naturally sourced drinking water in Texas. The main threat is the pace of development over the recharge zone, which creates long-term contamination risk even if current quality is good.
Check your water for baseline data. For most Comal County residents, a carbon filter addresses any taste or chlorine concerns from treated water. For well owners seeing rising nitrate, reverse osmosis provides effective treatment. Our water filter guide covers both approaches. Get your detailed report for trends, and visit our Texas page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Comal County, TX.
The EPA places Comal County, TX in Zone 3 - the EPA's lowest-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level below 2 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
19% of homes in Comal County, TX were built before 1980, and 4% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Comal County, TX averages 8.4 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide