North Bexar County water district adopts new rules

Trinity Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District board adopted new rules that district officials said will help them to better manage groundwater resources of the Trinity Aquifer across north Bexar County.

​The background

According to district officials, some major highlights of the new changes include:

• The well permitting process will begin with the district instead of San Antonio Water System.
• A new fee schedule was adopted.
• All existing wells must be registered, at no cost to well owners, who will acknowledge the wells’ existence and construction.
• All well drillers and well owners intending to drill a new well should contact the district before drilling the well and apply for authorization to drill, modify or plug a well, and the district will help the applicant if the well owner meets certain requirements.
• Well owners of new wells drilled after Dec. 14, 2023, will be required to follow all regulatory specifications for the new wells, as applicable.

What they’re saying

District General Manager Amanda Maloukis said her agency spent more than one year analyzing their now-previous rules to determine which ones to revise to better align TGRGCD with current state groundwater law and the district’s enabling act.

“After the board adopted the new rules, we began reaching out to many Trinity Aquifer well owners and well drillers to officially announce the changes and familiarize them with the new regulatory processes,” Maloukis said in a statement. “We held a public meeting in October to go through proposed rule changes, posted the rule changes for more than a month, and also held a public hearing during the December board meeting to provide opportunities for public feedback and questions.”