Water Developers Unlikely to Target Fayette Co.

This County’s Oversight and Groundwater Makeup Could Deter Woes Seen in Neighboring Counties

At a meeting Aug. 12, Fayette County Commissioners took no action on a proclamation that would urge regional water planners to conserve groundwater resources in a pending update to their long term management plan.

Back on July 22, Kent Babcock, a retired anesthesiologist from La Grange, and Andrew Wier, a groundwater rights activist from Bastrop County, spoke to Commissioners and urged them to sign the proclamation. They spoke about the Vista Ridge Project in Burleson County, a massive water well field that pumps water from the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer system to the the City of San Antonio. The Vista Ridge Project came online last year. Soon thereafter, neighboring landowners began to report their water wells going dry.

Commissioners deferred action at the July 22 meeting, saying they wished to hear from the Fayette County Groundwater Conservation District (FCGCD).

FCGCD Gemeral Manager David Van Dresar spoke at the Commissioners Court at the meeting on Aug. 12. Van Dresar said he supports the plan as it pertains to Fayette County. He said big water developments like the Vista Ridge Project are unlikely to target Fayette County, at least in the near term.

FCGCD belongs to Groundwater Management Area 12, a regional planning body made up of five other groundwater conservation district that stretch from Bastrop County to Brazos County and parts of East-Central Texas.

“We all get together every five years to plan,” Van Dresar said. “For the past two cycles and into the beginning of this cycle the plans have gone very well. The groundwater districts were in agreement about how the plan was developed.”

Van Dresar said the planning process involves each groundwater district gathering information about the number of wells in their area and how much water those wells are going to pump in the future.

“Everything was going along well until the beginning of this year,” Van Dresar said. “That’s when the problem was created.”

Van Dresar said one of the districts omitted some groundwater production data from the planning process.

“In Fayette County, we account for everyone, everything we have, every person they say is supposed to come in here – we account for that in our plan in this district,” Van Dresar said. “Every district should do that.”

Van Dresar said a water production company acquired permits to pump groundwater from the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District in Burleson County in 2008. That eventually became the Vista Ridge Project. Van Dresar said the developers met all the requirements for the permits, so the district there issued them.

Fayette County Judge Joe Weber asked Van Dresar if something similar could happen in Fayette County.

“Here in this County? No sir,” Van Dresar said.

Van Dresar said Fayette County will not “feel” the effects of the Vista Ridge Project.

“That Carrizo Aquifer is our deepest aquifer and there are very small amounts of usable water in that aquifer in this county,” Van Dresar said. “It’s 2,000-plus feet down. Most of our domestic wells here are 500 feet down, in the Yegua Jackson Aquifer.”

Van Dresar said the concerns raised by groundwater activists like Babcock and Weir lie outside Fayette County.

“The concerns that these people are giving to everybody are outside the boundaries of this district and I have no control over that, except for a vote on the plan,” Van Dresar said. “We like our numbers. We don’t need to change ours. What we’re asking is for the other district to be as honest as we are.”

Weber asked Van Dresar if he can foresee a time when groundwater from Fayette County would be piped to urban areas outside the county.

“Since I’ve been here, we have not had any type of marketing company like that approach the district for a permit,” he said. “I don’t see that happening in the future at all. One, I think our rules are good rules.”

He said such a water developer would have to acquire vast amounts of land to pump at high volume due to the County’s rules on water wells. Furthermore, he said the aquifers here are not as productive as they are in other areas to the north and east of here.

“We don’t disallow something like that from happening, but it’s pretty hard to get those kind of numbers,” he said.

Furthermore, Van Dresar said he doesn’t think Fayette County landowners would be willing to lease or sell land to water developers.

“Yeah, these old Czech and German farmers are digging in, but they’re also selling a lot of land that’s being bought, bigger tracts, “ Weber said. “People are coming in from other places, and they’ve got one thing on their mind – development. We may be OK now, but I think we need to be watching it.”

Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann said he has heard concerns from neighbors around a development on Falke-Heinrich Road.

“They’re going to have 10 or 12 wells in one area on two acre tracts,” Brossmann said. “Are they going to affect neighboring landowners?”

Van Dresar said he couldn’t answer the question, but he said state law allows for that kind of development.

Andy Donally, who serves as hydrologist for the FCGCD, said the County could impose stricter rules regarding lot sizes.

“Depending on how productive the aquifers are, you might allow for larger or smaller lot sizes,” he said. “In some areas of the state, the county will work with the local groundwater district and require studies to say what kind of lot sizes you can have.

Donally also doubted that water developers would target Fayette County.

“Like David said, the aquifers here are pretty tight, you have to put in a lot of wells, and you’re moving water a long way,” he said. “But you may have issues with large developments with individual homes, each with their own well, close together. That’s something you might look at in the future – limiting lot sizes.”