Helen Dutmer

San Antonio | Government Official, Politician

During Helen Dutmer’s elected service on the City of San Antonio Council (14 years) and the Bexar County Commissioners’ Court (6 years), she dealt with many significant environmental issues facing central Texas. In subsequent years, she has been active with appointed bodies, such as the San Antonio Zoning Commission, and with non-profit environmental groups, including the Aquifer Protection Association and the Bexar Safe Water Committee, that weighed in on many of the same topics. Many of the issues she has worked on revolved around infrastructure investments and regulatory decisions for protection of groundwater and surface water in the region. For example, she was involved in opposition during the early 1990s to the construction of Applewhite Reservoir on the Medina River, construction of the Dos Rios wastewater treatment plant during the 1980s, and passage of Ordinance 48106, an early and seminal effort in 1977 to control development over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.