Well monitoring, required drought plans among new rules for future subdivisions
After waiting 20 years for state intervention, Travis County passed new laws intended to protect its western groundwater supply.
During its Jan. 31 meeting, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved water availability rules, requiring any new subdivisions being built over the Trinity Aquifer to offer sustainable water sources, drought contingency plans and fire protection. Existing subdivisions will not be affected.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt has said that it is safe to assume that water supplies are already oversubscribed because of the reports of shortages and the fact that Travis County does not know how many wells are drawing groundwater.
"I believe that we would be irresponsible or shirking our civic responsibility at this point if we did not proceed," Precinct 3 Commissioner Karen Huber said. "The news is rife with wells going dry and subdivisions without water. I believe that we need to do what we can to provide at least a basic level of water availability assurance."
The new laws will offer some of the oversight offered by a groundwater conservation district, the state's preferred method of water management.
By law, the state was supposed to establish a district in western Travis County in the 1990s after the area was declared a priority groundwater management area, but that never happened.
Supporters, including the Save Barton Springs Association, praised the county for taking action. Western Travis County resident Gene Lowenthal, president of the Hamilton Pool Road Scenic Corridor Coalition, endorsed the county laws.
"The outdated rule of [water] capture should be replaced by a legitimate water management system because, as everyone knows, population is growing rapidly in Texas, and water is a finite resource," he said.
Some residents opposed provisions for decorative water features and impervious cover—areas where rain cannot be absorbed back into the ground.
North Austin resident Morris Priest said it is the state's responsibility to protect groundwater and asked the county to wait until the legislature created a conservation district.
Conservation districts
Western Travis County draws groundwater from the Trinity Aquifer, a huge layer of porous rock that collects and distributes water.
In 1990, the Texas Water Commission dubbed parts of the county as a priority groundwater management area—an area that has critical shortages—Planning and Engineering Program Manager Anna Bowlin said.
State law then gave residents two years to create a conservation district after being named a priority area. Since a district was not created at that time, the law required the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to establish one.
Speaking at the Jan. 31 meeting, state Rep. Paul Workman, R–District 47, said he has legislation ready to submit on the first day of the 2013 Legislative session to create a district.
"I've done the research, and no one has ever filed legislation to create a groundwater conservation district in southwest Travis County," he said. "I can't imagine any reason why we wouldn't be able to get this passed through the Legislature because this is the preferred method for managing groundwater in the state of Texas."
Workman had made a similar statement in September; Huber had then responded that while she applauded Workman's efforts, "at some point we have to move forward in some way that we can ensure we have water availability in the future."
Resident Debra Trejo said the county's rules could overlap with a future conservation district.
Recent history
In October 2010, Travis County placed a yearlong ban on approving any new subdivisions that use Trinity groundwater. It then convened a stakeholder committee to study how other counties regulate aquifers.
The stakeholder committee and county staff delivered recommendations last fall. The Commissioners Court extended the ban from Oct. 31, 2011, to Jan. 31, 2012, to give staff time to answer questions raised during public hearings.
"We found that there were two issues in our initial proposal that we presented last September that we didn't anticipate originally having to include in this regulation: One was developing intensity [requirements] for subdivisions not using groundwater, and the other was fire protection," Bowlin said.
The laws
The laws emphasize data collection, using sustainable water supplies and having contingency plans.
Subdivision applicants must identify water sources and show sufficient supply. They may only draw groundwater from the Trinity and Edwards aquifers.
A required service plan will include estimates of water demand and how much wastewater will be treated, as well as a description of the facilities that will serve the development.
Subdivisions with 15 or more units will show there is sufficient water for fire protection and drought contingency plans.
Applicants must also detail all wells within 1,000 feet of the subdivision, a list of nearby landowners and proof of well water quality.
Larger subdivisions that use more than 100,000 gallons per month will install water-level monitors on one well and allow the county to monitor the equipment.
Amenity ponds, impervious cover
The new laws state that subdivisions with a centralized wastewater system may use groundwater for landscaping common areas until there is enough wastewater discharge to do the job.
They also limit the size of decorative water features such as amenity ponds and cut off irrigation during water restriction times.
Stakeholder group member Jennifer Walker, of the Sierra Club, said using groundwater for amenity ponds was an unnecessary use of a limited resource.
The new laws limit impervious cover at 45 percent of the total land area for commercial subdivisions and 30 percent for residential subdivisions.
"Development intensity is relevant to Travis County's water supply because the land, surface water and groundwater of a watershed are all interconnected," according to background documents for the Jan. 31 meeting.
The documents note that land development can not only inhibit recharge, but also pollute both the rainfall that seeps into the ground and runs off into lakes and streams.
Stakeholder group member Raymond Slade, a hydrologist, called the residential limit for impervious cover very high.
Carlotta McLean, Real Estate Council of Austin board member, said that different groups of people would have participated if they knew the county was going to make rules about impervious cover.
Southwest Travis County landowner John Hatchett said he had to turn away a roughly $1.5 million sale due to the approval ban.
"Expanding those rules to cover things like impervious cover and fire protection are not part of the groundwater protection agenda and are causing me to have a loss of value with my property," he said.
After adoption, the laws took effect immediately. County Judge Samuel T. Biscoe said the court will gauge the laws' effects in a year.
Workman's office confirmed that the representative will still introduce legislation in 2013. He also requested a legal opinion from the Texas Attorney General's office about the legality of the county laws.
