CARDtalk: CITIZEN ALERT - Unregulated Pumping Threatens Trinity Aquifer

A Houston company, Electro Purification (EP), has drilled multiple unregulated commercial wells in the area of FM 3237 at FM 150, near Hays City Store.

Electro Purification wants to sell groundwater from these wells to a proposed subdivision in Mountain City, to the city of Buda, and to the Goforth Water District. The total amount of proposed pumping exceeds 5 million gallons per day - more than 1.8 billion gallons a year - greater than the combined total of the Wimberley Water Supply Corp., Aqua Texas, and Dripping Springs Water Supply Corp.

This excessive pumping would occur in the same part of the already declining Trinity Aquifer into which many local private wells are drilled. It would cause a serious drop in area water levels, likely depleting a large number of home and business wells on which western Hays residents have depended for years. That would negatively impact property values for those properties and, as word spread, for our area.

There is currently no regulatory entity that can manage this pumping to protect local well owners and their right to the water under their property. This location is just outside the eastern boundary and jurisdiction of our Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD). The EP wells are within the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) jurisdictional boundaries; however the EAA only has authority over the Edwards Aquifer. Because of the flawed legislation that created the EAA, they have no authority to manage groundwater pumping from the Trinity Aquifer. These wells are being drilled THROUGH and BELOW the Edwards Aquifer into the underlying Trinity Aquifer, the aquifer that supplies the groundwater for western Hays County, including the Wimberley and Dripping Springs areas (not to mention most of Blanco, Kendall, Bandera and many other Texas counties). The Edwards Aquifer is the primary water source for San Antonio.

Aquifers are not self-contained units. Groundwater scientists believe that the waters of the Edwards Aquifer above and the Trinity Aquifer below comingle through cracks and fissures. This provides a crucial incentive for the Edwards Aquifer Authority to be concerned with excessive and unregulated pumping from the Trinity Aquifer.

Well owners in the vicinity of FM 3237 and FM 150, along with officials of all the area Groundwater Conservation Districts and the Hays County Commissioners Court, are alarmed by this potential over-pumping of the Trinity Aquifer by Electro Purification. Read the Wimberley View front page story in the January 8, 2015 issue. Read the public letter from Hays County Commissioner Will Conley.

We urge Citizens of Hays County to contact their elected officials and ask that action be taken to manage the proposed Electro Purification pumping to protect the water supply of hundreds of local well owners. Below are elected officials and agencies that should be contacted, and an upcoming local meeting schedule.

Agencies
Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD)
Website: haysgroundwater.com
Phone: 512-858-9253
Rick Broun - manager2@haysgroundwater.com

Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD)
Website: www.bseacd.org
Phone: (512) 282-8441
Email: bseacd@bseacd.org

Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA)
Website: www.edwardsaquifer.org
Phone: (210) 222-2204 or 1-800-292-1047
Email: info@edwardsaquifer.org

Plum Creek Conservation District (PCCD)
Website: www.pccd.org
Phone: 512.398.2383
Email: info@pccd.org

Texas Water Development Board (TWDB)
Website: www.twdb.state.tx.us
Phone: 512-463-7847

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
Website: www.tceq.state.tx.us
Phone: 512-239-1000 or 512-239-5500 (Office of the Commissioners)
Email: see website

Elected Officials

Hays County Commissioners Court
Website: www.co.hays.tx.us/commissioners-court.aspx
Contact information under individual Commissioners

State Representative Jason Isaac
Website: www.isaacfortexas.com
Phone: (512) 463-0647 Capitol Office, Email: Jason.Isaac@house.state.tx.us

State Senator Judith Zaffirini
Website: www.zaffirini.senate.state.tx.us
Phone: (512) 463-0121
Email: submit form on website

State Senator Donna Campbell
Website: www.campbell.senate.state.tx.us
Phone: (512) 463-0125
Email: submit form on website

Meetings
Below are several upcoming public meetings if you wish to voice your concern and spread information about this situation:

Thursday, January 15th, 6:00 p.m.
Barton Springs Edward Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD)
1124 Regal Row, Austin
On the agenda for Discussion and possible Action. Item 4A.
Citizens Comment period available.

Tuesday, January 20th at 6 p.m. (not usual 6:30 p.m.)
Buda City Council Meeting (agenda not yet available)
Buda City Hall, 121 Main Street
Buda has not yet signed a contract with Electro Purification. It is reported that Electro Purification will make a presentation to the Buda Council on the 20th.
Citizens Comment period available.

Wednesday, January 21st at 6:00 p.m.
Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District
Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley, near Brookshire Bros. store. 

Members of the HTGCD are familiar with the situation, but will be interested in input.
Citizens Comment period available. 

- CARD Steering Committee