LANDOWNER WARNING THE PUBLIC AGAINST AQUIFERS BEING DRAINED TOO QUICKLY
A Milam County landowner is voicing concerns about the management of the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District.
Dr. Curtis Chubb, who is a member of the Central Texas Aquifer Coalition, said that the management of Post Oak Savannah has been too eager to hand out water well permits to large scale water marketers.
Chubb told the Giddings Times that water marketers, such as the Vista Ridge Project, which is northeast of the Lee County line, are pumping billions of gallons of water to other areas of the state.
In one instance, Vista Ridge is sending water from the Simsboro and Carrizo Aquifers through a 142-mile pipeline to San Antonio. The pipeline supplied 194,100 homes, or 14% of the city’s total water usage.
Dr. Chubb said that the rate that the aquifers are being drained is unsustainable.
From April 2020 to November 2023, the Simsboro Aquifer is down 186 feet, the Carrizo Aquifer is down 168 feet, the Hooper Aquifer is down 100 feet, and the Calvert Bluff Aquifer is down 80 feet.
Also, 125-plus wells in Burleson, Milam, and Lee Counties have started sucking air due to the constant pumping.
Well owners are being monetarily compensated when their well pumps need to be lowered.
The Times article further stated that although the money for well repair is reported monthly, the hardships caused by wells going dry is not.
According to district records, some wells were repaired more than once, while other repairs required long delays.
Chubb said one of the problems is that Post Oak Savannah is issuing 40-year pumping permits to the water marketers instead of the standard five-year permit.
Dr. Chubb further claimed that the water marketers are pumping almost 100 million gallons per day out of the Simsboro Aquifer, which exceeds the maximum recharge by 1,000%.
At the current rate, he is afraid that the aquifer system will suffer damage that is beyond repair.
Chubb suggests that a change in Post Oak Savannah’s management is needed.
He encourages the Commissioners Courts in Burleson County and Milam County to clean house on the current directors, and replace them with a new slate of people that will place the two counties first.
THANK YOU KWHI for covering this- a long-smoldering hugely significant issue!!!
Our area aquifers are interconnected & slow to recharge. It is unconscionable that our water is being mined & shipped to huge urban area for profit.
Local people may practice careful water stewardship understanding what a precious resource it is. All for naught if $$$ are incentivizing the wholesale shipment of it hundreds of miles away!!
Please stay on this issue KWHI!!!
Amen to Dr. Chang’s request hope its not to clean house hope its not to late!
Yeah I live in independence and my well is 200 feet and it has been great for 7 years…now in the last 6 months it’s starting suck air pockets…and we are scared it’s going to run out of water….
Can you believe some folks are watering their pasture and filling up ponds with ground water!
You have to wonder if they have mind capable of wondering about the longevity of their water source for themselves and for posterity.
People are just not that smart while also uncontrollably selfish. Sadly, the only way to fix this is regulation over every well.
But Texas would rather die than have a regulation like that so best build your cistern or leave. Maybe a few hundred lawsuits will save the day also, but I don’t see how.