Get the latest news in the August 2012 Newsletter.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan Video
San Marcos Daily Record
August 16, 2012
San Marcos — With the exception of the graceful strands of Texas Wild Rice that wave in the cool, clear water of the San Marcos River, the endangered species that call the river and the Edwards Aquifer home don’t call much attention to themselves.
The San Marcos Salamander, after all, is a tiny critter, as is the riffle beetle, the fountain darter and, if it still exists, the San Marcos gambusia. The Texas Blind Salamander doesn’t even poke its head out of the aquifer unless it gets too near a spring and is shot out into Spring Lake.
But without the species, and the protection the Endangered Species Act affords them, it’s doubtful either the San Marcos or Comal rivers would exist as we now know and enjoy them, river experts say.
Getting the public to fully understand that concept just got easier.
Last week, a new website went live, dedicated to the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (EAHCP), which is a portion of the Legislature-mandated Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Plan (EARIP).
The plan both protects the species and complies with federal law, Robert Gulley, EARIP program director, explains in a video on the site, eahcp.org. “Right now, a federal judge or the state legislature could come in and take over operation” of the aquifer without the EARIP, he argues. That will all change if the plan is approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) which is now reviewing it.
“They are a link to the ecological system that ties us all together. We are obligated under law to do all we can to ensure their survival,” Roland Ruiz, interim director of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA), says of the endangered species. By following the plan, “We can use the aquifer, we can share the aquifer, and the species can continue to survive.”
“Endangered plants and animals let us know we are reaching a tipping point where resources might not be available in the future,” San Marcos River Foundation Program Director Dianne Wassenich contributes. “When an endangered species is in trouble, like wild rice, it’s an indicator.”
Before the EARIP began its work, estimates were that pumpage from the Edwards would have to be cut by 85 percent to ensure the endangered species’ survival, Weir Labatt of the Texas Water Development Board adds. “That wasn’t possible. Everyone started looking for alternate solutions.”
Those solutions take a number of forms. One, an initiative of the San Antonio Water System (SAWS), consists of storing Edwards water in the Carrizo Aquifer during times of rain, to be used in times of drought. “It’s essentially a savings account,” explains Robert Puentes of SAWS.
Another is a program that would pay farmers not to irrigate during times of drought. That would be triggered by Aquifer levels, Gulley said.
Other provisions would restrict human activity in some area, including near the Texas Wild Rice stands just downstream of the University Street Bridge.
None of it is cheap. The EAA says the effort to “bring resolution to the decades-long conflict between the federal mandate to protect threatened and endangered species associated with the Edwards Aquifer and the region’s dependence on the same aquifer as its primary water resource” will cost $18 million a year, “excluding inflation, over the next 15 years.”
If USFWS approves the EARIP, which could happen by the end of the year, “it will result in the issuance of an incidental take permit that will protect Edwards groundwater users from liability in the event incidental harm due to aquifer use comes to the threatened or endangered species protected by the Endangered Species Act,” the EAA says.
Partners in the EAHCP and applicants for incidental take permits include the EAA, the cities of San Marcos and New Braunfels, SAWS and Teas State University.
August 16, 2012
New EAA video details the link between aquifer, species, rivers
San Marcos — With the exception of the graceful strands of Texas Wild Rice that wave in the cool, clear water of the San Marcos River, the endangered species that call the river and the Edwards Aquifer home don’t call much attention to themselves.
The San Marcos Salamander, after all, is a tiny critter, as is the riffle beetle, the fountain darter and, if it still exists, the San Marcos gambusia. The Texas Blind Salamander doesn’t even poke its head out of the aquifer unless it gets too near a spring and is shot out into Spring Lake.
But without the species, and the protection the Endangered Species Act affords them, it’s doubtful either the San Marcos or Comal rivers would exist as we now know and enjoy them, river experts say.
Getting the public to fully understand that concept just got easier.
Last week, a new website went live, dedicated to the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (EAHCP), which is a portion of the Legislature-mandated Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Plan (EARIP).
The plan both protects the species and complies with federal law, Robert Gulley, EARIP program director, explains in a video on the site, eahcp.org. “Right now, a federal judge or the state legislature could come in and take over operation” of the aquifer without the EARIP, he argues. That will all change if the plan is approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) which is now reviewing it.
“They are a link to the ecological system that ties us all together. We are obligated under law to do all we can to ensure their survival,” Roland Ruiz, interim director of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA), says of the endangered species. By following the plan, “We can use the aquifer, we can share the aquifer, and the species can continue to survive.”
“Endangered plants and animals let us know we are reaching a tipping point where resources might not be available in the future,” San Marcos River Foundation Program Director Dianne Wassenich contributes. “When an endangered species is in trouble, like wild rice, it’s an indicator.”
Before the EARIP began its work, estimates were that pumpage from the Edwards would have to be cut by 85 percent to ensure the endangered species’ survival, Weir Labatt of the Texas Water Development Board adds. “That wasn’t possible. Everyone started looking for alternate solutions.”
Those solutions take a number of forms. One, an initiative of the San Antonio Water System (SAWS), consists of storing Edwards water in the Carrizo Aquifer during times of rain, to be used in times of drought. “It’s essentially a savings account,” explains Robert Puentes of SAWS.
Another is a program that would pay farmers not to irrigate during times of drought. That would be triggered by Aquifer levels, Gulley said.
Other provisions would restrict human activity in some area, including near the Texas Wild Rice stands just downstream of the University Street Bridge.
None of it is cheap. The EAA says the effort to “bring resolution to the decades-long conflict between the federal mandate to protect threatened and endangered species associated with the Edwards Aquifer and the region’s dependence on the same aquifer as its primary water resource” will cost $18 million a year, “excluding inflation, over the next 15 years.”
If USFWS approves the EARIP, which could happen by the end of the year, “it will result in the issuance of an incidental take permit that will protect Edwards groundwater users from liability in the event incidental harm due to aquifer use comes to the threatened or endangered species protected by the Endangered Species Act,” the EAA says.
Partners in the EAHCP and applicants for incidental take permits include the EAA, the cities of San Marcos and New Braunfels, SAWS and Teas State University.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Hearing on the Motions for Summary Judgment in WVWA vs. HTGCD Cancelled
The August 13, 2012 hearing on the Motions for Summary Judgment in WVWA et al vs. HTGCD has been CANCELLED. No new hearing date is anticipated until later in the fall.
The Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and a group of concerned landowners filed suit in 2011 to confirm that they are entitled to a contested case hearing to challenge a permit for Wimberley Springs Partners to pump 163,000,000 gallons of water from the aquifer in the vicinity of Jacob’s Well. (More details on the well locations) Hydrologic data indicates that such an amount of groundwater pumping above Jacob’s Well will cause aquifer levels to drop and cause the spring to stop flowing in the future. The permit was allowed to go through without performing an aquifer test on the wells being considered for use.
The HTGCD Board failed to require the developer to perform the aquifer test that is mandatory under district rules. HTGCD Rule 11 states that “Each applicant for a new well operating permit shall perform an aquifer test and submit a report as part of the operating permit application.” An aquifer test was never performed and the permit was approved by a split 3-2 board vote and in spite of broad public opposition. Numerous citizens protested the golf course and the permit conditions as written by the developer. The permit allows for the transfer of 80,000,000 gallons of irrigation water to municipal use with no further consideration on the impact to current water supply wells or the spring flow to Jacob’s Well, Cypress Creek and the Blue Hole swimming area downstream.
In this case, the public was not provided notice of a February 21, 2011 deadline for a hearing request until after the newly imposed deadline date had passed. WVWA and the other Plaintiffs intend to show that their requests for a contested case hearing were timely under the Rules as interpreted by the District at the time the requests were submitted. Plaintiffs further contend that the denial of a contested case hearing violated Plaintiffs due process rights, was arbitrary and capricious, and constituted a violation of the District’s own rules. Moreover, the Plaintiffs seek to show the Court that the Board’s 3-2 vote decision to reverse its deadline interpretation after-the-fact meets the very definition of that which is arbitrary and capricious, violating the due process and due-course-of-law clauses of the U.S. and Texas Constitutions, and amounts to a gross abuse of discretion. It is anticipated that a new hearing date will be set in the fall of 2012.
Officials approve plan to manage Wimberley swimming hole
Read the full article from YNN here.
Water Is Life
Texas Co-op Power recently published an article by Andrew Sansom, executive director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos, discussing the urgent need to protect our fresh water resources.
Read the full article here.
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