“Portions of western Travis County that use the Trinity Group Aquifers are already experiencing issues with water availability – in part due to the demands of development and in part due to droughts.”
–Joe Gieselman, executive manager of Transportation and Natural Resources
Note: The story below, edited for length, was published Sept. 3 in In Fact Daily, a subscriber-based news service that covers local government and politics in Travis County. They are an independent subsidiary of the Austin American-Statesman. The story is important because it describes a similar predicament in western Hays County – growth and the demand for more water is overstretching the Trinity Aquifer. The Trinity is the main source of water for many thousands of residents in western Hays and a large swath of the hill country. Hays County officials will tell you that safeguards, including a groundwater conservation district and a water availability ordinance, are in place to protect against overuse of the aquifer. That would be true if officials were willing to apply the safeguards. The trend has not been looking good. Moving forward, we hope that wise management and conservation of this vital resource becomes policy that is exercised, and not just some nice sounding words on paper. There's only so much water to go around in this glass we know as the Trinity.
Go to this link ( http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/GwRD/GMA/gmahome.htm ) for comprehensive information on groundwater management areas from the Texas Water Development Board.
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By Michelle JimenezTravis County officials, with an eye toward future population growth, are looking to address issues of groundwater availability, particularly in the western part of the county.
Toward that end, commissioners are considering suspending, through Oct. 31, 2011, approval of new subdivision applications that cite the Trinity Group Aquifers as their source of water. While the suspension is in place, the county would work to develop a permanent policy regarding groundwater availability.
The suspension, which would affect only subdivision platting that is in western Travis County and that is subject to Chapter 82 of the county’s code, could be extended or shortened.
“This regulation does have some relief valves in it,” Anna Bowlin, division director of Development Services, which is part of the county’s Transportation and Natural Resources department, told In Fact Daily this week. Bowlin said the county could grant an exception for conservation subdivisions or if the applicant can prove the suspension would create an undue and unique hardship.
Bowlin said a conservation subdivision is a development that includes in its plan elements of environmental preservation, including a design that includes a rural or nature-oriented lifestyle, open space, protection for sensitive areas, reduced impervious cover, and has the potential to reduce the cost of government services.
Joe Gieselman, executive manager of Transportation and Natural Resources, laid out the proposal for county commissioners in a detailed Aug. 26 memo. Commissioners on Tuesday voted to set an Oct. 12 hearing about the proposal after they discussed it. They did not discuss the proposal in open session.
With the suspension, the county would insert a new section in Chapter 82 of the code that relates to water availability. It would prohibit approving subdivisions using groundwater from the Trinity Group Aquifers, unless a groundwater district is in place and gives permission for the additional groundwater withdrawal, according to the memo.
Gieselman goes on to explain that the code modification would also create a plat note requirement as an enforcement mechanism. “A plat note would be required to ensure the developer would not be able to get a plat approved based on one source of water supply and then change over to the Trinity after the plat is filed,” he wrote.
Gieselman explained in the memo that the county’s population, currently at about 1 million residents, is expected to reach 1.5 million residents by 2040. The Texas Water Plan projects the annual water usage will increase from 187,037 acre-feet in 2000 – one acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons – to 374,041 acre-feet in 2040.
Surface water sources account for most of the usage, Gieselman explained, but there is a significant amount of groundwater usage, including water drawn from the Trinity Group Aquifers.
Priority Groundwater Management Area 9
established in 1990. Conservation districts have yet
to be formed in SW Travis and western Comal.
“Portions of western Travis County that use the Trinity Group Aquifers are already experiencing issues with water availability – in part due to the demands of development and in part due to droughts,” Gieselman wrote. “Droughts in the Hill Country are frequent and severe. Since the 1950's, significant droughts occurred in 1964-65, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2000, and 2007-09. Travis County does not have a permanent policy that deals with groundwater availability in areas with groundwater issues.”Though parts of western Travis County have been designated as part of a “priority groundwater management area,” a groundwater conservation district has not been created for that area to regulate pumping, among other protective measures such districts take in other parts of the state and region.
According to Gieselman’s memo, the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released a report last month that recommends the formation of such a district comprised of the Hill Country priority groundwater management areas of southwest Travis County, western Comal County, and western Hays County. A hearing on that recommendation will be held on Oct. 28, according to the memo. (See In Fact Daily, Oct. 22, 2009)
5 comments:
This is suspension is nothing more than a protective shield for the all-powerful LCRA and its surface water sales. It has very little if anything to do with conservation; it simply looks to maintain the status quo in Travis County. The ground water use in western Travis Co. is miniscule and this so phony effort will not even lower that consumption. Another one of those, “Hey look I’m working for you” press releases, me thinks. In other words, BS.
Notice that if you do environmental development you can drill all you want. What parts of western Travis County doesn't have groundwater district?
“What parts of western Travis County doesn't have groundwater district?”
The whole northeastern half which lies under the Colorado River Basin. When have you ever seen anyone drill a well in the middle of Lake Travis? The southwestern half is split between GMA9 and GMA10. This report is junk science in its worst form. I’m more concerned as to the purpose of this non-story.
Good reporting, thank you. There were significant issues with groundwater availability during the most recent drought in SW Travis County, many many wells ran dry primarily because of increased demand for pumping. Springs and creeks are noticably slower to recover and sustain themselves during dry months. In addition, the water in this area is inter-related to the entire Trinity aquifer system reaching into Hays County. We cannot afford to continue looking the other direction as we deplete this finite resource.
"Bowlin said a conservation subdivision is a development that includes in its plan elements of environmental preservation, including a design that includes a rural or nature-oriented lifestyle, open space, protection for sensitive areas, reduced impervious cover, and has the potential to reduce the cost of government services"
In other words, they will impose an HOA from hell on the unsuspecting property purchasers in this place. They will get reduced or no government services but they won't get any reduction in taxes commensurate with the reduction in services. In addition, they will have perpetual liens on their property that can never be paid off and for which they will have to pay for ever-increasing non-deductible "assessments".
As to the remarks about what part of Travis County is not in a GCD: The southwestern portion of Travis County is not in a GCD. This is part of the propaganda to impose a GCD on residents of southwestern Travis County just as TCEQ has been trying to do for years to residents of Northwestern Comal County. Just because an area is in a "GMA" area does not mean that there is in fact a GCD regime in that area.
Anonymous #1 is correct. In fact, much of the exercise of GCD powers has had the result of conferring tremendous economic benefits on a few entities like LCRA and various private water utilities in the area. The "shoot yourself in the foot" approach by these environmental groups are also tending to confer economic benefits on areas outside the district to the detriment of the residents of the district.
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