Guest blog written by Jennifer Walker. She works on water issues at the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.

The fate of the Hill Country’s Trinity Aquifer and its associated rivers and springs was made a little clearer at a meeting held Monday night in Boerne, Texas. 

The Texas Observer put together an excellent piece on the complicated Groundwater Management Area (GMA) process and what is at stake for GMA 9 and the Hill Country.  The decisions that are made as a result of this process determine the future of the Hill Country. 

The lay of the land

The GMA 9 planning group held three public meeting in June to determine the public’s opinion on several proposed the Desired Future Condition (DCFs) scenarios for the Trinity Aquifer.   A majority of the written and oral comments asked GMA 9 to establish a DFC that would represent current conditions.  This scenario means that current pumping needs would be met and there would be no further drawdown of the Trinity Aquifer.  Essentially the aquifer would be maintained into the future as it is now. 

With the “current conditions” option, there would be limited water available for future growth; however, many local people who participated throughout the process and at the public meetings are concerned about the viability of their future water supplies.  If the area continues to grow, the very nature of the Hill Country is in jeopardy.   The rivers and springs that permeate the area are fed by the underlying aquifers like the Trinity.  If the water levels in those aquifers decline, the amount of water fed into the rivers and streams will diminish as well.

The big decision

So what did the GMA 9 board decide on Monday?  In spite of this input, in an 8-1 vote, they voted to establish a DFC which will result in an average 30-foot drawdown of the Trinity Aquifer over the next 50 years.  Jim Chastain from the Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District voted against the motion, advocating for a 10-foot drawdown.  The board members spoke a good deal about how the current conditions or zero-drawdown option was unworkable.  They felt that they had to provide for some future growth and worried the scenario would not provide for exempt wells in the future.  Groundwater districts do not regulate exempt wells but water needs to be provided for them based on Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) projections.    

Hill Country Losses

What does this mean for the Hill Country?  Not all areas of GMA 9 would be equally affected.  Some areas will see smaller drawdowns and other areas will see larger reductions impacting existing wells.  According to the TWDB groundwater report, a 30’ drawdown in the Trinity aquifer will provide for an additional 40,000 acre-feet of water in the GMA 9 area (current use is estimated at 60,000 acre-feet/year), but it will also reduce springs and base-flows to rivers by about 14,000 acre-feet per year.  This is in addition to the 33,000 acre-foot reduction from current pumping. A 30’ drawdown would result in an approximate 25% decrease in spring and base flows over historical conditions threatening the life of the springs and surrounding wells.

GMA 9 will submit their DFC package to the TWDB by September 1st.  Interested parties have the option to file petitions one year from the date of submittal.  Hopefully more people will stand up for the Hill Country to protect this unique and important area.

The article is from the Environmental Defense Fund. Read the original article here.