You can download a copy of the Draft HTGCD Groundwater Management Plan at the District's website here. Public comment is still being accepted. Email the District with your comments and questions at this address: manager2@haysgroundwater.com
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By Bob Ochoa
Editor
Time is precious, and so is our groundwater. Take a little time to view the video below. A public hearing was held Thursday night, Oct. 21, called by the the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to take testimony and comments on a draft groundwater management plan.
It was the second public hearing on the draft plan. A good size crowd turned out for the hearing at the Wimberley Community Center.One of the issues central to the draft plan, and a big point of contention, is a proposal to allow a 30-foot drawdown of the Trinity Aquifer over the next 50 years. The Trinity is the main source of water for an estimated 35,000 residents, farmers, ranchers and business owners in the western half of Hays County.
A consensus seems to be forming that a steep decline in the aquifer level over time will not have good results.
In the video, the groundwater district's board president Jimmy Skipton says this: "At 30-foot, we'll be oversold. There's not that much left. Over 50 years if you take all the exempt (home wells) that could be here . . . it's pretty much gone."
9 comments:
The editors of this website support Bert Cobb for county judge, even though he expressly supports the rule of capture when it comes to water. I fail to see how they can claim that water planning is an issue and strongly support Cobb like they do.
Bert Cobb supports "Rule of Capture" because it is the LAW, dumkoff.
I believe that President Skipton made it clear that the groups that are unhappy with the 30 foot drawdown need to argue their case with the Texas Water Development Board since it did not and does not matter what the HTGCD sets as a number. The other districts within the GMA-9 would out vote our district by 8 to 1. It only takes a 2/3 majority to set the DFC. So even if the HTGCD set the drawdown number at 10 (the TWDB wont let you set zero) the outcome would be the same, 30. So the whole petition was not only fraudulent but also moot from the start.
I think those of you that like to pass around petitions might consider petitioning the Texas Water Development Board, but you better have all your ducks in a row and not use fraudulent tactics as you did with the last petition. Those people are not as tolerant about those types of things as the HTGCD seems to be. From what I have seen they are quick to put the ball back in your court. Just ask The Wimberley City Fathers.
There is no 'rule of capture' in Hays County. The county's groundwater consumption is governed by the local groundwater districts, of which there are 3. Barton's people have raised a STRAW MAN argument in the campaign thinking they can win back Democrats in west Hays County. Where was Barton when the city of Kyle was overpumping the aquifer, disregarding its permit with the Edwards Aquifer Authority? Where is Barton now that Kyle and Buda are still pumping rapacious amounts groundwater. Barton is desperate. He sees that the end of his political career and lying ways are near at hand.
Guess what? Rule of capture is State Law, and to be stupid enough to say that it doesn't exist in Hays County is even stupider, but consider the source. The Groundwater Districts are in a quandary because their chief mission seemingly is to nullify the idea of "rule of capture" and yet there is not one thing that really they can do, at least on the residential side or the agricultural side.
My understanding of the 30 foot drop is the average of the worst case scenario. It is not a representation of a permanent 30 foot drop in water level. This would be the estimated level of drop in a drought of record. At other times such as recent activity, the level would obviously rise with recharge. The 30 foot drop is indicative of a failure to receive any recharge over a set period of time. Even in the driest of droughts, there is some recharge, albeit small. If the State and locals would get with the program, reclamation of water from stormwater runoff that could be re-injected into the aquifer would help tremendously with the permanent water level.
The Texas Legislature says that local groundwater districts are the “preferred method” for conserving and protecting state groundwater supplies. The overturning of the “Rule” is not settled law. Many court battles are ahead and the new Legislature may chime in, so the “Rule of Capture” is still in play.
This is a good video and very informative. Now I can put faces to all the board members and excellent reporting being done by the Roundup on this important issue.
I hope this is forwarded far and wide. Too many people still don't understand what is happening to our ground water.
Some skillful editing gives the wrong impression of the way the meeting went. The “teaser” at the beginning makes it look like Mr. Carpenter was taking the position that the current management plan would have all those results, when he was actually talking about all the misrepresentations made to him by petitioners to obtain his signature. Talk about slanted reporting. Why not include the whole statements by Mason Carpenter and Bill Davis?
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