Lee County Water Problems Not Expected to Creep into Fayette

Some residents in northern Lee County living near a massive water pumping station are reporting water wells going dry. The problem shouldn’t affect most water wells in Fayette County, at least for now, according to David Van Dresar, general manager of the Fayette County Groundwater Conservation District.

The Vista Ridge pumping station located in Burleson County near the Lee County line was designed to deliver 16.3 billion gallons of water per year through a pipeline to the City of San Antonio, located 140 miles away. The system came online last May. Some Lee County residents began noticing problems with their wells in recent months.

The wells supplying the Vista Ridge water were drilled into the Carrizo Aquifer. According to Van Dresar, the aquifer lies at a shallower depth in Burleson and Lee counties. In Fayette County, however, the Carrizo lies much deeper, making it much more expensive to drill a well. Accordingly, most wells in Fayette County access water tables closer to the surface, he said.

“We’re talking about the deepest of our usable water,” Van Dresar told the Record on Monday. “For the average person, the Carrizo is very difficult to get to. It’s very expensive. Most people (in Fayette County) utilize much shallower water. For our folks, they’ll probably never experience any kind of problem.”

Van Dresar said the Carrizo Aquifer lies over 1,000 feet deep in Fayette County. There are a few large public water supply wells in Fayette County that get water from the Carrizo Aquifer.

“Fayette Water Supply has two wells in the Carrizo,” Van Dresar said. “But any effects would take a very long time to get here. It’s not an underground lake. It’s saturated soils that we’re dealing with. So the closer the proximity the more likely there would be an impact. Could there be an impact from farther away? Certainly, large production like that can do that. But the timeframe for that affect to reach us could be years or decades away.”

Van Dresar said he has heard of no impacts from the Vista Ridge project in Fayette County.

“Here, there is nothing going on,” Van Dresar said.

The situation in Lee County highlights a potential problem with the State’s water planning system. Groundwater resources in the state are managed by 98 regional groundwater districts. Those districts are supposed to coordinate their planning efforts. The boundary lines of those districts don’t always align with the aquifers they are supposed to manage.

The Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District manages groundwater in Bastrop and Lee Counties. However, the Vista Ridge project was approved by Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District, which covers Burleson and Milam Counties. The Carrizo Aquifer lies under both districts.

The Rista Ridge project was permitted for 30 years through more than 3,400 leases with local landowners in Burleson County.