Wimberley community comes together for water

WIMBERLEY  —  The Wimberley Community Center had standing room only on Friday, Feb. 9, for a meeting hosted by The Watershed Association and the Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA) regarding the current state of groundwater and the contributing role of Aqua Texas.

Following an introduction by TESPA Board President Jim Blackburn, local hydrogeologist Doug Wierman discussed the current drought situation as it pertains to Jacob’s Well.

Wierman explained that water utility company Aqua Texas violated its groundwater pumping permit in 2022 and 2023 by taking nearly double its allotted water during each year.

The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District is in charge of assessing drought conditions and setting curtailment parameters for all entities that are issued HTGCD pumping permits, with the greatest restriction being 30% less pumping during severe drought conditions. In 2022, HTGCD was at 30% curtailment for 9 months, which continued through all 12 months of 2023.

In 2022, under maximum restrictions, Aqua was allotted 312 acre-feet and pumped 586 acre-feet, approximately 170 of which was lost due to leakage. In 2023, the utility company was allotted 319 acre-feet and pumped 530 acre-feet.

According to Wierman, the average leakage across the HTGCD system is 10-15%, however Aqua Texas is at more than a 30% loss.

As previously reported by the News-Dispatch, HTGCD assessed a fine of more than $450,000 for the violations by Aqua Texas and the water utility company responded by suing the district in federal court.

According to meeting documents, “TESPA and The Watershed Association believe Aqua Texas’ actions are harmful to Wimberley and Hays County communities.”

For this reason, the associations are taking a multi-faceted legal approach against Aqua Texas, which includes a rate case and an attempt to have the utility’s certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) revoked by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). Additionally, they hope to join the federal lawsuit to assist HTGCD in its fight against Aqua Texas.

The Rate Case

Lauren Ice, attorney with Perales, Allmon and Ice, P.C., explained that Aqua Texas has applied to the PUC to add a system improvement charge to the rate for every district it controls.

“What a system improvement charges is, it allows them to recover costs for certain infrastructure improvements that they've already made and recover those costs by increasing your water sewer rates,” Ice explained.

With the help of Ice, TESPA, The Watershed Association and the Woodcreek Homeowners Association are planning to keep a close eye on the rate case.

“What they have to do in order to justify this rate increase is go to the PUC and provide a list of certain information and in that information, they have to provide a description of the projects that they've completed, the explanation for how those projects have or will improve your service,” Ice continued. “So, by participating in this rate case, it allows us to kind of be the watchdog, to make sure that they are providing what they say they're providing, that they are making the upgrades they say they're upgrading and to make sure that the money that they're going to be charging is actually being used to enhance your service.”

Ice explained that they are still in the process of gathering information and anyone interested in speaking about upgrades, or lack of upgrades, is encouraged to reach out and share information.

CCN revocation

According to the PUC, a CCN “gives a retail public utility the exclusive right to provide retail water and sewer utility service to an identified geographic area.”

Adam Friedman, attorney with McElroy, Sullivan, Miller and Weber LLP, discussed the process of obtaining a CCN and the grounds for the case for the PUC to revoke Aqua’s CCN.

“It's sort of a privilege and a responsibility,” said Friedman. “Once you get that right, you apply and the state says, ‘Okay Aqua, you get to serve this area and run your utility.’ But it's also an obligation that you provide adequate and continuous water service to your customers.”

Friedman went on to explain that the current CCN was transferred from Aqua Utilities to Aqua Texas in 2018. At that time, the application states the total area being served was 2,195 acres and 1,363 customers, but that Aqua Texas is now serving more than 2,000 customers.

“Now, the takeaway, whether it was a misrepresentation, whether it was just a mistake or an inconsistency in data, the bottom line is that now the number of customers being served is drastically more than what the water supply they had at the time when they got this CCN was supposed to serve,” said Friedman.

“So, herein lies the problem. It's an inadequate water supply to service all their customers. And there's an email from the president of Aqua Texas, they're not denying it … There is no dispute. But that's why we're filing the complaint because a utility does not get to satisfy their legal obligations as a utility by breaking groundwater law, especially when the breaking of that groundwater law is having a direct impact on precious Jacobs Well and other wells nearby,” Friedman concluded.

For more information, visit www.watershedassociation.org/take-back-our-water.