Brittany Kelley
AUSTIN — The Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District Board updated its District Rules at the Friday, Oct. 16, meeting.
Brian Sledge, legal counsel, walked through the changes with the board, stating that he would not be mentioning any grammatical changes, such as typos, or housekeeping amendments.
“Most of the substantive changes establish a new permitting framework for the Trinity Aquifer,” said Sledge, adding that the historical permits will be divided into Historical Trinity and Historical Edwards, as well as a Conditional Trinity. There is already a Conditional Edwards.
He noted that the core amendments provide that “total Trinity production, including exempt use of all permits, shall be permitted to maximus for practical, but not beyond the amount that’s required to achieve the applicable desired future conditions.”
Essentially, the existing permits will be reclassified as historical, while new permits will be recognized under a Conditional Trinity. Those already in the process of receiving a permit will still be under the historical section.
“I don’t think that’s something that the board had to do, but the board decided to do it. There’s a number of folks [who have] already done their well … and are preparing to submit a Trinity production permit application, so we are going to allow those folks in. Those provisions are included in the rules,” said Sledge.
Additional changes include acreage-based limits on total production for Conditional Trinity permits, as this is common for many groundwater conservation districts, he explained.
The lower and middle Trinity is being set at 10,000 gallons per acre per year, while the upper will be 5,000.
“[This] is intentionally set above what we call the minimum production allowable. It’s actually more water than is actually there. If you divvy up on total available groundwater necessary to achieve the [desired future conditions] for the Trinity by the acreage that covers each of those Trinity management zones, the actual number of gallons available per year is much lower,” said the attorney. “But as the district sets out the rules, we’ve adopted these higher values for now to allow additional production until if and when it becomes necessary to reduce the production allowable.”
Retail public utilities will receive credit for the acreage in their certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) or within the corporate boundaries.
Sledge added that, “You can subtract out acreage within somebody’s CCN for an individual permit holder and that CCN, or an exempt well owner, take[s] that acreage off of the table for the retail public utilities, so that there’s no double dipping on it. Each area is recognized under one permit.”
The same curtailment percentages that apply to Historical Trinity permits, which Sledge shared are 20% for Stage 1, 30% for Stage 2 and Stage 3 will apply to the Conditional Trinity permits. There will be an additional measure of protection built in by the per acre limitation on total production.
Other amendments are as follows:
• Hydrogeologic reports must be completed within the last three years to be used
• Permits are for annual one-year terms
• Any new amendment seeking increased authorized production is treated as a major amendment and goes before the board
• Renewal requests with the same acreage will be renewed at the same volume, while those with amended — less — acreage will be renewed at a reduced rate
• Those on Conditional Trinity permits must notify the district accordingly, if acreage is lost
• Increasing the penalty range for Water Code of Civil Penalty Enforcement
• Spacing regulations and distance from property line updates in the constructions standards
After the presentation, entitlements manager for MileStone Community Builders Shani Armbruster spoke during public comment. As a representative of MileStone’s planned community, Hays Commons, at the corner of FM 1626 and SH 45, she shared concerns about the rules that would cut the currently pending 500-acre foot request to 16.5 acres — a 97% reduction. However, she believed that the development’s application would be grandfathered in and requested acknowledgment.
Asking whether or not there is an opportunity for churches, schools and other projects that are in the development and permitting process to apply for modifications to existing historic permits was Buda resident David Wilson.
Two attendees also questioned the reasoning behind the gallon per acreage limit, asking what science was used to come to these numbers and citing potential compliance problems.
Finally, Victoria Rose of the Save Our Springs Alliance expressed her support of the new rules.
The board went into executive session, following public comments, and reconvened to take a vote.
Sledge recommended that based on comments received, that the references be changed from Sept. 19, 2026, to Oct. 16, 2026, so that the grandfathering provisions are triggered at the adoption of the rules.
Those like Hays Commons, that had an application, but still hadn’t yet filed a production permit, will still be processed under the previous historical provisions; the same analysis will still be required, but the new acreage-based requirements won’t be present, Sledge said.
He also noted that applications for wells proposing to withdraw groundwater from the upper, middle and lower Trinity management center will be processed as Conditional Trinity production permits.
Board member Vanessa Puig-Williams motioned to approve the proposed rule amendments, with changes recommended by counsel. A second by Jon Cradit led to a 5-0 approval.
The next BSEACD board meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12.
