Population growth in the Greater Houston area continues to put a strain on groundwater resources throughout the region. Several groundwater conservation and subsidence organizations are implementing a number of programs with the purpose of reducing the dependency their communities have on groundwater.

Three of the major water entities in the area include the Harris-Galveston and Fort Bend subsidence districts, North Harris County Regional Water Authority, or NHCRWA, and the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, or LSGCD.

The Harris/Galveston and Fort Bend subsidence districts were created by the Texas Legislature in 1975 and 1989 respectively. Created in January 2000, the NHCRWA works to secure long-term, reliable water sources. In 2001, the

77th Legislature created the LSGCD with the purpose of protecting Montgomery County's groundwater.

Panel of water officials

Paul Nelson: Nelson has served as the assistant general manager of the LSGCD since 2011 with prior experience in water conservation and long-range water planning. Nelson worked for the Public Works and Engineering Department for the city of Houston and spent five years with the North Harris County Regional Water Authority.

Mike Turco: Turco has served as the general manager of the Harris-Galveston and Fort Bend subsidence districts since 2013 and is responsible for the management of district operations. Prior to joining the districts, Turco worked on water and groundwater research projects for the U.S. Geological Survey for 17 years.

Al Rendl: Rendl is the president of the NHCRWA and helped pass legislation that allowed voters to have control of their own future water supplies in 1997 and 1999. Rendl previously served as Harris County Water Control District No. 91 director for 16 years and was the chairman for the North Harris County Water Issues and Annexation Reform Group.

Where does most of the water come from within your region?

Nelson: Montgomery County [uses] 100 percent groundwater and has since the beginning exclusively used the Chicot, Evangeline and Jasper [aquifers] with probably the bulk coming from the Jasper aquifer now. Obviously we'll get into [surface water] later, and we're hoping to change all that with the water from Lake Conroe and use water from Lake Conroe to supply water to The Woodlands and Conroe and some of the other municipal utility districts across the freeway from The Woodlands. Those will be the first users of surface water in the county.

How important is water as a resource to the development of undeveloped land?

Turco: No water, no development. Those areas where you move further out into Harris County in particular in our district and in western parts of Fort Bend County, they're likely going to be developed on some form of groundwater use because there is no infrastructure in those areas to get the alternative supply that's there. As we've seen happen in the past with development, infrastructure will reach those areas and we'll be working with officials in those areas to get them converted to surface water and alternative sources of water as that development occurs. But we fully expect in those developing areas [to see] additional groundwater use until infrastructure is in place to provide them alternative sources of water.

What are the groundwater use reduction efforts in Montgomery County and when will they be implemented?

Nelson: There are 33 groundwater reduction plans in the district. We talk a lot about the San Jacinto River Authority being one because of it [includes the] majority [of local groundwater users]. A lot of members of that GRP are comprised of conversions to surface water as we talked about a lot. There are others that are joined together to use river rights that they have to use affluent water from one city that runs downriver. There's the Catahoula [Aquifer]. We have 11 wells now already in production or permitted and near production. The Catahoula has proved to be a valuable resource and is considered an alternate supply because it's not part of the three aquifer layers that we've been concerned about.

What areas in north Harris County are considered priorities for surface water conversion?

Rendl: We are taking [conversions] from the older subdivisions and moving north and west. The older subdivisions were the most heavily populated at the time we started doing it. That was along the [FM] 1960 corridor to [Hwy.] 249. Going north, we have almost everything covered between [FM] 1960 and [FM] 2920 from about just east of I-45 out to [Hwy.] 249. Now we are looking at the other major growth areas that have occurred since we started doing this. We have ExxonMobil up by I-45 at the Spring Creek area up there. They need lots of water, and we're looking at how to get water to them quickly. Then you have the Grand Parkway. If you take an overhead view of what's going on at the Grand Parkway, every place there's an interchange there is a massive development already starting. So we're going to have to get water there.

What do you anticipate the future for groundwater use will be in Montgomery County in the next 10–20 years?

Nelson: We realize there will be use of [groundwater], but that's one of the reasons that the overconversion is happening in The Woodlands and Conroe. That gives the ability for the rest of the entities that are not taking surface water to continue to use groundwater. Today the rules are such that new developments that need groundwater can either [use] an alternate source or join a [groundwater reduction plan]. The water they're going to be using from the ground is going to be compensated for by someone else on alternate supplies. So if I [were] going to drill a well for a new district in Montgomery [County], that water has to be compensated for. I get 100 million gallons a year, someone else has to overconvert or I can do a Catahoula [well]—whatever it takes for me to understand that all the water has to be accounted for.

What kind of stress will population increases have on water as a resource?

Turco: Everybody drinks water. Everybody uses water. You bring in more bodies, you're going to have increased water use. In 2010, the [Houston-Galveston Subsidence District], along with its partners, we went down a road to update our regulatory plan. We worked with a wide variety of consultants and even the [U.S. Geological Survey] to upgrade our models, to upgrade our predictions of how populations are going to not only increase, but where they're going to be. We factored that into our regulatory plan, and we used that information to help develop our timeline for how much conversion should occur and when it should occur.

What conservation programs have your districts implemented?

Nelson: Conservation is in the name, and we do spend a great deal of effort and funds on trying to inform the public about where their water comes from. We've done a lot of instituting of programs, and one I'm proud of is trying to make available six or seven different rain gauges throughout the county doing evapotranspiration. We've got a nice weather station in the back of our offices, and we let people know each week how much evaporation took place and try to limit their use to that. If it rains a lot, don't use it at all. We're tying to get people to understand where the off button is and to turn their irrigation system off.

Montgomery County water in the news

To learn more about water usage, subsidence and groundwater reduction plans, read the following stories on our website, impactnews.com/wdl.

• Stakeholders address local, regional implications of reduction efforts (February 2015)
• Questions surface over the future of groundwater use in Montgomery County (January 2015)
• Oak Ridge North considers rainwater harvesting education program (December 2014)
• Water rate increase funds conservation, infrastructure (November 2014)