Wimberley Valley Watershed News: Forestar Bulletin: Second Rehearing Request Denied

Last night the Lost Pines GCD Board of Directors re-reaffirmed their decision to limit the Forestar permit to 12,000 acre-feet per year when they denied Forestar's SECOND request for a rehearing (a re-rehearing). This action once again makes final the Board's decision on the Forestar application. We anticipate that Forestar will file suit against the Board any day now.

We continue to be very proud of the Lost Pines Board and thank them for standing strong in light of the harassment, intimidation and threats they have faced from Forestar ... a not-so-friendly corporate citizen.

We understand that this struggle is not over, and look forward to working with them over the next year to strengthen their ability to manage our precious water resources.

Thank you, we have your back.

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Other actions last night:

In addition to denying Forestar's request for a second rehearing, the Board also denied its request for a contested case hearing on the Griffin Industries application for one existing well in Bastrop County to pump 224 acre-feet per year. Apparently the Board agreed with Griffin's attorney and the public that this small well, some 23 1/2 miles away from the Forestar wells, is not a threat to Forestar, but rather, as stated by Griffin's attorney "a frivolous request to throw rocks back at the District." We considered the request by Forestar to be an obstructionist action following on its earlier threat to close down the Board's permitting. The Board then took action to allow the Griffith Industries well.

Finally, the Board approved Aqua Water Supply Corporations application to amend its permit thereby allowing Aqua to aggregate two wells so that an aggregate of 1,633 acre-feet per year may be produced (no increase in total production).

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To those who support our efforts and who support the Lost Pines Board:

THANK YOU FOR SHOWING UP AND SHOW THE BOARD THAT YOU SUPPORT ITS CONSERVATIVE APPROACH

TO PROTECTING THE GROUNDWATER UNDERNEATH

BASTROP AND LEE COUNTIES.

Click here to write a THANK YOU email to the Board.

OUR JOB NOW IS TO DO ALL WE CAN TO BACK THE BOARD

DURING THE LAW SUITS THAT WILL LIKELY FOLLOW.

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GROUNDWATER BULLETIN

January 2013

Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District Hearings

Draw-down: A Visual Perspective

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What does "draw-down" resulting from groundwater pumping look like on a map? As you may know, the Desired Future Conditions are established in terms of the draw-down, in feet, of aquifers in Bastrop and Lee counties and throughout the District.

Recently, Environmental Stewardship obtained visual images based on the Groundwater Availability Model (GAM) used by the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District to evaluate the impact of proposed pumping from current permit applications on the Simsboro Aquifer. Draw-down, measured in feet, is indicated on the contour lines of the maps below. Click on Maps below to Enlarge

NOTICE: Please keep in mind that the images below (except for Image 1) are for the PROPOSED permits ONLY (124,226 acre-feet/year) and DO NOT include EXISTING permits (45,365 acre-feet/year).

Image 1. PERMIT THIS - The draw-down, in feet, expected when the Adopted Desired Future Conditions (DFC) are met in Bastrop and Lee counties. The dark area in Burleson County is from Post Oak Savannah GCD pumping. Click on Map to Enlarge

Image 2. NOT WATER BANKRUPTCY - The draw-down, in feet, expected if ALL current applications are approved and pumped to the maximum permitted. Notice the red area in Lee county where draw-down is 1000 ft, and orange area in Bastrop County where draw-down is 750 ft. Click on Map to Enlarge

Image 3. WATER BANKRUPTCY - The majority of draw-down, in feet, in Lee County is from the proposed Forestar well field. Click on Map to Enlarge

Image 4. WATER BANKRUPTCY - The majority of draw-down, in feet, in Bastrop County is from the proposed End Op well field, which is directly below Houston Toad habitat. Click on Map to Enlarge

PERMIT THIS:

If permitted at all, individual permits should first be reduced to levels actually supported by the application and then all permits reduced overall as necessary to an aggregate level that, including existing permits, protects the Adopted Desired Future Conditions. In summary, if permitted at all, Forestar and End Op qualify for less than 5% of the water they are seeking. In addition, the district needs to factor in the impact of existing permits before issuing any new permits. This has not been done. (See Image 1).

Image 5. This image depicts Forestar pumping reduced to 25% of requested pumping volume but DOES NOT include existing permits. Click on Map to Enlarge

Image 6. This image depicts End Op pumping reduced to 25% of requested pumping volume but DOES NOT include existing permits. Click on Map to Enlarge

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