Fay Sinkin

San Antonio | Water Conservationist

Mrs. Sinkin was an active volunteer in water conservation for many years in the San Antonio and central Texas area with a variety of non-profit groups, including the League of Women Voters and the Aquifer Protection Association, as well as with several governmental boards and agencies, such as the Edwards Underground Water District. Through her work with the EUWD to stem water waste, she helped introduce the idea of drought-tolerant xeriscape and led the effort for a municipal waterline leak-detection program. With the formation of the Edwards Aquifer Preservation Trust, she worked to acquire ranchland to block development in the Aquifer’s recharge zone. She was also a key partner in the successful effort to block construction of the Applewhite Reservoir near San Antonio, and promote, in its stead, better water conservation. Through aggressive conservation education, incentives, and enforcement, per capita water use in San Antonio has dropped by 1/3 since the late 1980s.