Bastrop Co. Fire, Lee Co. Water Woes
The Bastrop Advertiser
• A wildfire, which began Saturday and forced some county residents to temporarily relocate, was 95% contained as of last Sunday night. At 10:36 p.m. on Saturday before, the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management announced the evacuation order had been lifted and power had been restored to the area of the fire. The Office of Emergency Management said all of Cassel Way and west of Kelley Road to Texas 21 had been evacuated due to the wildfire. The blaze was being called the Cassel Way Fire and was near Cassel Way, Kelley Rd., and FM 1441 in Bastrop County. It was first reported about 6:15 p.m. on Saturday by the Office of Emergency Management. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the fire started due to an outdoor cooking fire that got out of control. The fire was originally estimated to be 100 acres, but its size was reduced to 37 acres after more accurate mapping was completed Sunday. Fifteen structures were directly threatened by the wildfire and 24 structures were evacuated, but no structures were lost.
Lexington Leader
• More than 195 domestic and livestock wells that pump water from the Carrizo formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Lee and Bastrop Counties will run dry under newly proposed allowable drawdowns in the region. At least 19 more of these wells in the Carrizo will need to be redrilled and their pumps lowered. Hundreds of domestic and livestock wells in other formations, such as Calvert Bluff and Simsboro, will likely be impacted too. Those projections are by the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF) based in part on existing conditions in Burleson and northeastern Lee counties. Carrizo wells in that area have already been compromised by pumping for the Vista Ridge project. Massive pumping is also projected to decrease flows in the Colorado River, according to another group, Environmental Stewardship (ES). Both SAWDF and ES have called on Groundwater Management Area 12 (GMA-12), which is charged with setting limits on allowable groundwater drawdowns in a region that includes Bastrop, Lee, Burleson, and Milam Counties, to factor in adverse impacts on domestic and livestock wells and on both the Colorado and Brazos Rivers when setting those limits. Meetings will be held this week to discuss allowable drawdowns.