William Leslie "Bill" Broadhurst

From the 1930s through the ’70s, Broadhurst worked as a hydrologist, both for the U.S. Geological Survey and the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. He co-authored several major technical reports on Texas groundwater, including studies of the situations in the High Plains (Ground Water in the High Plains of Texas, 1946) and Rio Grande Valley (Summary Appraisals of the Nation’s Ground-Water Resources – Rio Grande Region, 1975). His analyses helped quantify groundwater use, storage, and quantity, pointed out the declines in numerous aquifers, and laid out the need for monitoring, planning and regulation. In one landmark case, Broadhurst’s data evidently provided key evidence of the direct hydraulic connection between irrigation wells and the cessation of flow at Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton, a failed but well-reasoned effort to protect the aquifer from over-pumping. Pecos County WCID No. 1 v. Williams (271 S.W.2d 503 (Tex. Civ. App. 1954), writ ref-d n.r.e.