Increasing municipal and manufacturing use along with environmental considerations present additional challenges to appropriate management of the Edwards Aquifer. The Carrizo Aquifer underlies Dimmit, Frio, LaSalle, Zavala, and southeast Uvalde County and is the Winter Garden's principal and most heavily pumped aquifer. The Carrizo is thought to be connected with the Wilcox which underlies it. Although Wilcox water is of poorer quality and has sands of lower permeability, the two are usually considered as a single aquifer. The region's resources are dedicated primarily to livestock and crop production.
Recreational uses reflected in hunting leases are also important.
Study area farmers are major producers of vegetables, field crops and small grains. Some 30,500 acres of vegetables were harvested in 1979. Frio, Zavala, and Uvalde counties were in the top ten Texas counties for 1979 in production of fresh market vegetables. The overall objective of this study was to estimate the economic implications of new crops, new technology, and limited groundwater on agriculture in the Winter Garden Region of Texas. Develop a regional linear programming model relating groundwater characteristics, soils, and range sites via typical management and 1980-81 markets to production of livestock and major crops.