The ongoing endeavor to secure future water supplies is coming to a boil in Hays County.
A Houston-based water development company wants to pump more than 5 million gallons of water per day from the Trinity Aquifer to supply its local customersthe city of Buda, the Goforth Special Utility District and a proposed high-end subdivision in Mountain Citys outskirts. Its contracts become effective once the companys test wells prove the site can produce sufficient groundwater.
Electro Purification would not need permits to draw water from the aquifer and may, by law, extract as much water as desired because no agency regulates pumping from the production site.
With an eye on future demand, Buda City Council on Jan. 20 secured the water source that will help the city transition to a new permanent source. EP will provide one million gallons a day to the municipalitys growing population. The council voted 6-1 in favor of the contract. Angela Kennedy, a water engineer, voted against the measure.
Private well owners in western Hays County cities, such as Driftwood and Wimberley, who draw on the aquifer for basic water needs fear proposed production will exceed levels the groundwater source can sustain. A diminished water supply would have adverse effects on their property valuations in the short term and grave implications for residents in the rural area, Driftwood resident Elizabeth Craig said.
Craig said she believes several hundred, if not thousands, of private well owners could be affected by the project.
"This is very frightening that our water source could dry out because of some peoples greed, some peoples shortsightedness and some peoples disregard for their neighbor," she said, adding that she and her neighbors are boycotting the city of Buda. "I feel that strongly, she said. Buda will receive no more of my [sales] tax dollars.
The city of Buda spent $80,000 for an independent evaluation of the prospective water source. Drew Hardin, an engineer with Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc., said middle Trinity Aquifer water is generally of good quality, and the contract with EP would provide a very affordable water source.
"[Water supply] is just one of those things you don't take a chance on," Hardin said. "To be conservative and make sure the city has enough water, this is a prudent piece of water to consider."
White area
The well site is in a portion of the Trinity Aquifer that does not have a groundwater management agency, such as a groundwater conservation district or an aquifer authority, regulating water production from it. Areas such as these can be found throughout the state and are referred to as white areas.
The groundwater source is one of the few in the region not to fall under the purview of the Hill Country Priority Groundwater Management Area. PGMAs are formed in areas experiencing or expected to experience critical groundwater problems, according to the Texas Water Development Board.
Officials say the regulatory gap can be blamed partly on the fact that political boundaries are not harmonious with the way groundwater moves. The Trinity Aquifer, for instance, spans 20 counties.
Because the well site is unregulated, the only state law governing it is the century-old rule of capture, which gives landowners the right to all the groundwater under their land even if it means drying out their neighbors wells.
"If that water is there, my biggest concern is the surrounding wells," said state Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs.
Isaac said he and his staff are reviewing findings on EPs project. But while he is in the fact-gathering phase, the selection of the site draws suspicion, he said.
"It does, to me, on the surface seem that this is skirting the laws, if you will," Isaac said. "It just seems to me like its a little too convenient that this location was picked, and it leaves me [with] some concern."
Possible legislative remedies to the lack of oversight include expanding the authority of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District or creating a buffer zone around the PGMA to include the area, he said. Isaac said at a Hays County committee meeting Feb. 5 that he intends to file one to five bills as soon as March 11 to address the regulatory gap.
EP says the fact the well field is not under the authority of a regulatory entity means groundwater is abundant because otherwise an agency would have sought to regulate it.
"Had [the PGMA study] established facts to the contrary, the area would have been made a part of the Hill Country PGMA, and/or a part of the Hays Trinity GCD or some other groundwater district," EP wrote in a Jan. 20 letter to the Hays County Commissioners Court. In this instance, unregulated is a sign of good things.
Buda water supply
The Goforth SUD and a proposed subdivision in an unincorporated area of Mountain City are getting bigger shares of the water than Buda. Buda City Manager Kenneth Williams said the city was actually the first entity in talks with EP in 2011, but after the city spent three years investigating the project, the other two customers entered the fold. Williams said the city could have missed out on the water source altogether had it not taken action Jan. 20.
Mayor Todd Ruge said EP was the citys fifth and final option. Buda has also been considering an arrangement with Centex Materials, a Buda cement company that uses water permitted by the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District. The city of Buda would supply treated and cleaned wastewater to Centex in exchange for its BSEACD water. But Ruge said the conservation districts rules do not allow such transfers.
"Folks, we need help," the mayor said on Feb. 5 in front of hundreds in the Hays County Government Center. "My hope is that another water source will come riding in on a white horse because we need another option."
Anthem, the proposed subdivision in Mountain City's extraterritorial jurisdiction, is being put together by Clark Wilson Builder, a developer in the region. The project will include 679 acres of land comprising about 2,200 lots. It will be supplied with 1.3 million gallons of water a day under the EP contract. A municipal utility district, or MUD, is being planned to finance several improvements for the neighborhood.
Buda will receive 1 million gallons of water per day as part of the deal. The city, like many in Hays County, is facing a looming reality of a depleted water supply. According to projections, Buda is on pace to require an additional water source as early as 2017, Williams said. Williams said securing the EP source would allow it to stave off depletion until 2060.
About 2 million gallons of water daily are being extracted from Budas current water source, the Canyon Reservoir. Buda is on track to need a total of 5.6 million gallons of water per day by 2060, according to city documents.
The water produced by Electro Purification is more of a stopgap source for the city, officials have said. It is intended to ease the transition to its future primary source: the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.
Up to two million gallons of water from the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer will be supplied to Buda daily by the Hays-Caldwell Public Utility Agency. That water is expected to be available to Buda by 2023.
Ruge said he understands the plight of residents whose livelihoods depend on drawing from their privately owned wells, and that is why the council negotiated a well mitigation plan as part of the contract.
"I think we did a responsible thing in regard to adding that caveat for the [mitigation]," he said. "The other two entities did not have that in theirs. Essentially we provided protection that until tonight wasn't there for those people."
A mitigation plan would establish a contingency fund to correct well deficiencies deemed to have been caused by EP. Questions remain, however, as to how the plan will be implemented.
"I appreciate them making a condition of the contract," Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conley said. "Now as we move forward I think the devil is in the details. How is that plan going to be put together? What is the science that the plan is going to be based off of?"
