Updated: June 5, 2022 Project Collaborators and Participant Environmental Stewardship’s interest is to have an ongoing monitoring program to ensure that the surface water and groundwater interests of the communities and environment of Bastrop and Lee Counties are protected. We are grateful to our collaborators and participants who bring additional resources, skills, outreach, and educational…
We are outfitting a trailer to serve as a mobile field laboratory. Updated May 15, 2022 We are re-purposing “Dale’s Toolbox” to serve as a mobile field laboratory. Dale Morrison, Master Trail Steward, was instrumental in the layout, design and construction of the granite hike and bike trails, concrete and wooden picnic tables, and pavilions…
We have purchased state-of-the-art instruments to bring science to decision-making. Updated May 14, 2022 Rather than continue to wait, and rely upon government entities to do the field studies that are needed to validate the groundwater availability model and provide empirical data to decision-maker, Environmental Stewardship has used the public funds from our individual and…
Our case is strong, has prevailed, but is being challenged … again. After prevailing though the contested case hearing where two administrative law judges found in favor of Environmental Stewardship, the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors issued a decision on the LCRA’s groundwater permit that requires the LCRA and the District to…
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Figure 1. Graphic provided to the Lost Pines Board of Directors to demonstrate the concerns and requests from WaterDefenders Coalition (November 8, 2021, based on Scenario S-15)
We want to thank the Lost Pines Board of Directors for taking a strong stand in its recent vote to adopt conservation based Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) for the Simsboro aquifer. At the November 30th GMA-12 meeting we were able to confirm that the District will be able to adopt DFCs that are 10% more conservative for all aquifers as soon as they get certification back from the Texas Water Development Board that the adopted DFC are administratively complete, that their is agreement on the results of the pumping file, and Modeled Available Groundwater has been calculated for each aquifer.
Here is a brief summary of what happened over the last month.
After a major victory for conservation and consideration of domestic/livestock wells and surface waters by Lost Pines GCD Board (see below), the Groundwater Management Area 12 (GMA-12) representatives voted against Lost Pines’ request at the November 12th meeting.
With the recent victory in hand, WaterDefenders went to the November 12th meeting hoping that all the member districts of GMA-12 would accept the “reasonable” actions taken by Lost Pines. However, we ended up with a decision by GMA-12 representatives that is a compromise.
General Manager, Jim Totten, made a motion to accept a pumping file [Scenario S-20] which would results in a new DFC of 183 feet average drawdown and about 30,300 acre-feet per year of pumping in the Simsboro formation for Lost Pines GCD. While the motion was seconded by Post Oak Savannah GCD, it failed on 2-3 vote, yay-nay.
A second motion was made to accept a pumping file [S-19] which results in a new DFC of 240 feet average drawdown, and about 82,800 acre-feet per year (AFY) of pumping in the Simsboro formation for Lost Pines GCD. This motion passed 4-1, yay-nay.
However, this is a significant victory for WaterDefenders, stakeholders, landowners and surface waters in Lost Pines District. Overall, this leaves us substantially ahead when compared to the Scenario S-12 that was initially proposed. The reductions gained through WaterDefender efforts will result in a 54% reduction in pumping from the originally proposed DFC, and a 31% reduction in drawdown from the originally proposed DFC.
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Griffith League Scout Ranch, Bastrop, TX.
In another major victory for Environmental Stewardship, a final decision and operating permits have been issued on the LCRA’s Griffith League Ranch groundwater permit application that requires the LCRA and the District to monitor the impact of groundwater pumping on surface water as a enforceable condition of the permit.
For nearly a decade, Environmental Stewardship has had three primary objectives in protecting the Colorado River. The first objective has been to get a surface water-groundwater monitoring network installed in the river basin in Bastrop, Texas. The second objective has been to protect the river and its tributaries from over-pumping by limiting the amount of pumping allowed in the Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) within the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District and Groundwater Management Area 12, The third objective has been to get a surface water specific DFC adopted for the river.
With this decision, and the progress made by our WaterDefenders coalition in limiting the amount of pumping allowed under the DFCs, key elements of Environmental Stewardship’s primary objectives regarding protection of the Colorado River and its tributaries are set to be met in the next few years.
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The “Proposed desired future conditions (DFCs)” that are about to be voted on by the five groundwater conservation districts in the counties listed below are at the heart of this issue. They are members of Groundwater Management Area 12 (GMA-12). We have the opportunity now to make our desires known and re-direct how our aquifers are to be managed.
The clock is ticking on our ability to reject the manage-to-depletion mindset that is imbedded in GMA-12’s “Proposed Desired Future Conditions”. We have a very short time period to raise our voices and require that our water resources be sustainably managed in a way that protects landowners’ exempt domestic and irrigation wells, and the resilience of our rivers and streams to the droughts that are just around the corner. Water, and how it is managed, will determine the future of our communities, our environment, and our rivers, including the Colorado, Brazos, Trinity and the Navasota rivers.
The WaterDefenders.org Coalition of Environmental Stewardship and the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund invite all citizens, landowners, local government officials, businesses, and community organizations to join us in rejecting the “Proposed Desired Future Conditions” and management policies being set for GMA-12, the Groundwater Management Area in which we live.
Comparison of impacts of Current DFCs vs. Proposed DFCs on Colorado River. Click on graphic to hear discussion of these impacts by Steve Box at GMA-12 Meeting on April 20, 2021.
Mine Aquifers – The proposed DFCs only consider the desire to pump as much groundwater as is possible and protect all existing permits without balancing the impacts of the pumping against predicted, unreasonable impact on landowner’s property rights and surface waters, including the Colorado River and its tributaries. Long-term sustainability of our aquifers and the…