Updated January 5, 2025. By Harold “Skip” Connett and Steve Box As more development converges in Bastrop County’s Wilbarger Bend, landowners are increasingly alarmed by its potential harm to the Lower Colorado River and the aquifers beneath it that they depend on for their livelihoods. A recent administrative court ruling in a requested contested case…
Press Release Environmental Stewardship Given Green Light to Challenge TCEQ’s Management of the Lower Colorado River Bastrop, TX. February 9, 2024. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. CONTACT: Steve Box, Executive Director, Environmental Stewardship, 512-300-6609, info@envstwardship.org. Richard Martin, a long-time Bastrop County angler, and Environmental Stewardship (ES) moved a big step closer this week to arguing their…
Two bills are circulating in the legislature right now to re-authorize the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to continue to regulate air and water pollution delegated to the state of Texas under the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts.
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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