Bill would authorize groundwater district to manage, protect Trinity Aquifer
WIMBERLEY — The city of Wimberley is submitting its support for legislative action that would change the authority of a local groundwater conservation district.
At its April 3 meeting, Wimberley City Council unanimously voted to approve a resolution supporting legislative approval that authorizes the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) to manage and protect the Trinity Aquifer for all users and allow reasonable production fees. The resolution is in relation to Senate Bill 2660.
According to the resolution, if aquifers are not reasonably regulated by local groundwater conservation districts, irreparable damage could be done to the natural resources and landowner property rights may be infringed upon by the commercial production of groundwater that results in the “malicious drainage of the landowner’s real property.” In order for groundwater conservation districts to properly manage groundwater resources, districts require adequate funding for operations and the gathering of scientific information necessary for sound management strategies, the resolution continued.
“The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District’s enabling legislation provided limited funding mechanisms,” the resolution stated. “The HTGCD’s primary funding mechanism, connection fees, will diminish as permitted water reaches the maximum amount allowed, resulting in little to no funding for the district at a time when groundwater resource management will be of great importance.”
Wimberley Mayor Jim Chiles said that last week, he and council member Rebecca Minnick had a call from HTGCD General Manager Charlie Flatten. He stated that the general manager asked the city of Wimberley to support SB 2660 because it would grant more authority to HTGCD, while another opposing bill, House Bill 2812, would take some authority away: “Some of the local water companies could just pump as much water as they want out of the aquifer with no penalty,” Chiles explained.
To the city’s understanding, SB 2660 has bipartisan support and it’s a major step toward water conservation and water usage in the Hill Country, explained Minnick: “From our standpoint, it was kind of a no-brainer.”
“I think there are several online petitions if residents want to sign the petition in support of this bill," said Minnick. "Our understanding [of this bill] is that it gives Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District basically the same authority that other groundwater conservation districts have. For some reason — who knows what that reason was — this ground conservation [district] did not have the same authority that the other ones did. It didn’t have quite as much jurisdiction.”
Hays County and the city of Woodcreek have already approved resolutions in support of SB 2660, said Minnick. She also added that they believe the bill will have widespread approval in the Senate as time goes on.
“We feel like it’s really important for our valley. We are trying to do our own water conservation measures and we want everyone to be on board with that,” she concluded.
To read more on SB 2660, visit bit.ly/43GyG1s.
Wimberley City Council meets next at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 17.
