Megan Navarro
HAYS COUNTY — The Hays County Commissioners Court authorized the execution of a professional services agreement Jan. 20 between the county and HDR Engineers, Inc. for a countywide water study.
This comes after not having a completed water study, also done by HDR, from the county’s perspective since 2011, explained commissioner Morgan Hammer.
“[It] just gave perspective on where we are at with our water. From a water standpoint, this one would be amazing to have, in conjunction with those subdivision regulations, to really give us a good understanding and whenever we see, whether that is a PGMA [Priority Groundwater Management Area] increase or anything of that nature,” she said.
Hammer continued that the study would help the county when it comes to the current providers in Precinct 3 — which consists of Wimberley and portions of Dripping Springs — as there are challenges in the western part of the county, including not having a basin.
According to Precinct 4 commissioner Walt Smith, there were a lot of things that the 2011 study did well, but he believes that it was a building block that the county needed to take a deeper dive in. He said that he asked HDR to look at the current water facilities — both utility and well — and where those resources are coming from as far as the data collection in the scope of work.
“I sit on the board of the West Travis County [Public Utility Agency]. That water is coming into the northwestern portion of the county, serving a large population. Everyone considers it PUA water, but where's that water coming from? It's Lower Colorado River water,” he said.
He shared that HDR will be gathering data from various entities, including Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, Lower Colorado River Authority, Dripping Springs Water Supply Corporation and Aqua Texas, as well as individual cities, to see where they are getting their water and how it’s being distributed.
“One of the things that I think will come out of this is a very direct overview of the county. One of the things that I really wanted to look at, as well, since we've been pressed on these issues related to data centers, is where … those water suppliers on the east side are getting that water and how much volume they actually have and what the usability would be over there,” Smith said. “It would be great, detailed information to have whenever we're presented with facilities like that or other just large-scale water users … We on the west side have always been preaching about water and our lack thereof, but it's a never-ending issue for us.”
While the west side is consistent in conversation with the sensitivity of the area and its water needs, the commissioners agreed that the study should be looking at the east side of the county, as well.
“My biggest concerns are the flooding in the east side because of all the recent housing development that has gone on all across the east side of the county. We really don't know where the water is going to go, I fear. I really want to take a look at that initiative and make sure that we have a better understanding of that issue,” said commissioner Michelle Cohen. “I know when it has had some rain events in the area, I've seen some of those areas that flood.”
Hammer added that yes, they do say that the west side is having issues with its water, but Dripping Springs and Wimberley are places with different supplies and sources. She continued that every area in the county is different, so the study will be able to give a whole picture view to see what’s going on throughout.
One of the reasons that Smith is supportive of the study is his fear of the possible elimination of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District and not having any semblance of knowing the research and data that has been collected.
“They are in a financial strain right now because of the way they're funded. The only way that they get funding is putting another straw in the ground and tapping into the resource that they're tasked with protecting,” Smith said.
He emphasized that right now, he has at least two communities in his precinct that, within the last year, their well — a community water system — has gone dry and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is allowing the use of additional treatment and more.
“One of these communities has 41 people in it. The one next to it has about 400 that's using the same ground water resource, so I'm hoping that this will do a good job of identifying where those are, because honestly, no one's ever told us where. We don't have a good understanding. Maybe those systems were set up in the '60s or in the '80s at some point as a private system,” Smith said. “We don't have a good understanding of where every one of those systems are, and I've got at least three failed ones that are actually no longer in existence that I've identified since I've been in office and two that are now under TCEQ regulation and on daily monitoring and those kinds of things because of failures within the last year.”
The court unanimously approved the agreement with HDR to conduct a countywide water study. The agreement is 11 months with a value not to exceed $542,360.
