Water Wakeup Call It’s Our Water - January 31, 2012
Submitted by William Heugel

Under Texas Law, all surface water belongs to the State.

The state can allocate surface water by granting water rights. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) performs this function. This includes water in the streams as well as the lakes and reservoirs.

To use surface water as an example, take Toledo Bend Reservoir with an approximate yield of 2 million acre ft per year. Louisiana gets half of that or 1 million acre ft, and the other 1 million acre ft belongs to Texas.

The Sabine River Authority (SRA) of Texas has been allocated the rights for about 750,000 acre ft of the yield. The other 250,000 acre ft is still held by TCEQ.

However, groundwater is an entirely different matter. In Texas the rule of capture applies to ground water. That means a landowner can drill a well into an aquifer and pump as much water as he wants to and do with it what he chooses, including selling it.

In the past this approach has resulted in some problems for land owners such as surrounding wells going dry and subsidence or the sinking of the surrounding area. The courts have upheld the rule of capture and the Texas Legislature has indicated the management of ground water should be a local issue…for now.

This figure illustrates the various major aquifers in Texas.

East Texas has two major aquifers: The Gulf Coast is shown in yellow and the Carrizo Wilcox in red. There are also some minor aquifers that are groundwater sources in our area but have very limited yield.

Below are some of the Minor Aquifers in Texas

These groundwater resources generally provide water for municipalities, ranches and farms. As can be seen, they cover many counties so something that occurs in one area can affect another, although it often takes a long time for this to happen. Note the geographic spread of the aquifers.

So how big are the aquifers?

The following chart shows the amount of water projected to be available in the next 50 years. The Ogalala is in West Texas. The bars below the Ogalala that are not marked represent the Gulf Coast and the one below it is the Carrizo Wilcox.

While the Ogalala is the largest it is also in major decline. The recharge of the aquifer does not keep up with the water taken from it. The Gulf Coast also shows a reduction, but that is primarily due to shifting from ground water because of the subsidence problems.

With the projected Texas population nearly doubling in the next 50 years all water resources will be looked at to meet the needs.

The State Legislature in deciding to have the ground water controlled at the local level authorized the establishment of Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCD).

The figure shows the location of Groundwater Conservation Districts. The white counties are not in a GCD. Note that Sabine, San Augustine, and Shelby Counties are not a part of a GCD but are surrounded by GCDs that have control over the aquifers in those counties.

A GCD is a district that is given tentative approval by the Texas legislature that requires final approval by the voters in the county in a special election. The vote gives the local citizens the power to establish or reject a GCD.

The GCD's mission is to provide for the conservation, preservation, protection, recharging, and prevention of waste of groundwater, and of groundwater reservoirs or their subdivisions, and to control subsidence caused by withdrawal of water from those groundwater reservoirs or their subdivisions, consistent with the objectives of Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution. Groundwater conservation districts may be created as provided by this chapter.

When established the Groundwater Conservation District issues water well permits and operating permits for exempt and non-exempt wells, collects groundwater information and investigates water quality.

Most GCDs are managed by an elected board of directors elected locally by the voters. The board is responsible for managing the district and adopting district policies, rules and procedures. The districts require permits for drilling equipping and completing wells and for alterations to well size and well pumps. They require records to be the kept so they can make information available to TCEQ and TWDB. They adopt rules to conserve, preserve, protect, recharge and prevent waste of groundwater and control land subsidence. They adopt rules to regulate the spacing of wells and the production of groundwater.

What are the positives?

• Record the wells in the district.
• Establish rules for well spacing and well completion
• Issue permits for wells to be drilled
• Ensure that abandoned wells are properly capped
• Issue permits for the export of water from the district if approved
• Ensure that wells are properly completed so they don’t contaminate the aquifer
• Maintain data on water quality and aquifer thickness and establish how much water is available.
• They exempt wells that produce less than 25,000 gallons of water per day (17 gpm). They may also implement exemptions or exceptions for greater users such as poultry farmers.

What are the negatives?

• Another level of government.
• They cost money to operate. The funding for the districts comes from two methods. Fees on the water pumped or property taxes or a combination of both.

The state owns the surface water and we have no real control over where it goes and when it goes.

The groundwater is ours.

There is presently nothing to prevent someone from coming into the counties, drilling a large well or series of wells and start shipping water to other locations in Texas or any other state. There is also no one to manage the water wells associated with the oil and gas exploration and production. Surrounding GCDs have found a number of wells that were improperly completed and had the potential to contaminate the groundwater.

The price we pay in extra government and taxes of fees may be well worth the cost if we can conserve and protect the aquifer.

It’s our Water Lets Manage it.

A Water Wakeup Call the Planning Process - January 27, 2012
Submitted by William Heugel

Because of the great 1950 drought Texas began paying a lot of attention to water and how to meet the needs in the event of another drought.

Some six decades ago, voters authorized $200,000,000 in Texas State Bonds that were sold to finance some of the designated water projects, including reservoirs and lakes. There were also some agencies established to plan and manage the use of those funds on the water projects including the Texas Water Planning Division, the Board of Water Engineers and the Texas Water Development board that were created by the legislature to make sure that Texans would have a sufficient supply of water.

The first state water plan was published in 1961 and was aimed at meeting the needs twenty years in the future. Five more plans were produced during the period from 1968 through 1997. Each of these plans covered the entire state but were generated by the state organizations.

In 1996 Texas had another drought which lasted 10 months. Again there was an economic impact and some cities were forced into rationing water while others ran out completely.

Another wakeup call.

As a result of the 1996 drought, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 1 which initiated the regional water planning process. One of the interesting investigations of the early plans was how to move water from the Mississippi to Texas. It was finally dropped because of the expense involved. Some folks ask about that today.

For the first time the stakeholders in a geographic area of Texas were tasked with developing a plan for their own area. Under Senate Bill 1 sixteen regions were established to develop these plans and to submit them to the state. Once submitted, the sixteen plans were combined, forming the Texas Water Plan.

Texas Water Planning Regions

Sabine County is a part of Region I

Water Plans are developed every 5 years by each Regional Water Planning Group. The planning process in each of the sixteen areas, investigates the water needs of the area based on population, industry, and agriculture. Then, based on the needs and the availability of the water resources in the area the plan will show the water needs and how to acquire them. The regions were established using a combination of the areas river basins and aquifers.

The regional committees are staffed with at least one volunteer from each of the following areas:

Public
Counties
Municipalities
Industries
Agriculture
Environment
Small Businesses
Electric Generating Utilities
River Authorities
Water Districts
Water Utilities

The most recent legislative session designated a requirement for an additional member from the Groundwater Management Area in the region.

In addition nonvoting members from federal, state, and local agencies may also participate.

The critical function of the group is the recommendation of long term water management strategies based on the projected needs and the available water supply.

These strategies represent the future of the area’s and Texas’ water solutions. Among the strategies that have been recommended are:

New Reservoirs
New ground water development
New means to transmit the water from one area to another. (This would include moving water from one region to another such as would be involved in transporting Toledo Bend Water to Dallas or Houston.)
Conservation
Recycling

The regional meetings are open to the public and after the plan is prepared there are multiple opportunities for public review and comment.

The Region I plan developed this year can be viewed at the following website

http://www.etexwaterplan.org/

The state Draft plan can be viewed at

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/wrpi/swp/draft.asp

References for this article are from the 2012 Draft State Water Plan and the David Alders presentation to the Region I Water Planning group.

Water Wake Up Call, State Water Needs - January 17, 2012
Submitted by Bill Heugel

Based on the water planning research by Water Planning Groups around Texas, projected water needs in acre ft per year are shown in the following figure. The planning is based on drought conditions similar to what Texas is now experiencing.

Projected Water Needs by User Category

As can be seen the major future requirement will be to meet municipal needs to provide potable water to growing Texas populations.

Analysis of future requirements and the current availability of water are shown in the following figure and indicate the shortfall of water in acre feet per year.

Water Demand and Supply

Note in the water supply portion of the curve that there is a decrease in supply over the next 50 years. Most of that decrease is due to the sediment in our reservoirs and the depletion of underground aquifers. In some areas of the Gulf Coast Aquifer there is a reduction of supply due to the requirement of the users to move to surface water to prevent subsidence.

The following figure shows the reduction per year for the full 50 year period.

Water Availability Reduction Acre Ft per year.

The water shortages for each 10 year period are shown below. Remember that an Acre Ft of Water is 325,000 Gallons.

In order to meet the future needs of Texas’ growing population, various strategies have been developed by the regions. If the strategies recommended, by the Water Development Board, are implemented it would result in about 9 Million Acre Feet that would meet needs for Texas’ 2060 population. The strategies include the completion of 562 water projects. There are twelve Regions around the state that are unable to meet the water needs from within their regions with some struggling today.

The following chart indicates how the needs are projected to be met.

Note that the major strategies are for surface water including new reservoirs, conservation, ground water expansion and finally reuse.

The figures used in this come from the Draft State Water Plan which is available at:

http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/wrpi/swp/draft.asp

A Water Wakeup Call –The Beginning - January 9, 2012
Submitted by Bill Heugel

We all know there are times in life when all of a sudden we realize the importance of certain things. I think we are in one of those situations right now with our water.

Back in 1950 there was a drought that was also a wakeup call. Many cities had to go to emergency supplies to provide water to the residents. Businesses were impacted financially. The estimated loss was hundreds of millions of dollars. After that drought Texas undertook major water reservoir construction. Texas had 50 major reservoirs at that time. By 1980 we had 179 and today there are 188. Construction slowed due to environmental issues and costs. The state water plan has identified a number of potential sites for reservoirs but it will take a long time to get them implemented. Lake Columbia on the Neches River in Northern Cherokee County is the only one being constructed in our region.

Around 1950 Texas had about .4 Acre Ft of water storage per resident. In 1980 it was around 2.5 acre ft of storage per person. Today it’s about 1.5 and dropping. The Texas population in 1950 was 7,711,194. Today its 25,145,561. Fifty years from now its projected to almost double to 46,323,725, Of course the major growth occurred and is projected to continue to grow in the metropolitan areas like Dallas and Houston.

Water is important and with the experienced population growth and the projected growth there will be a greater need for water than the present available supply can provide.

Water in Texas consists of two major types, surface water and ground water. The surface water belongs to the state and is allocated by the state agencies. That does not include small or private ponds or lakes. Ground water is owned by whoever owns the land and can retrieve it. Whatever comes to the surface can be sold or used by the owner as they see fit.

Most of Texas’ share of Toledo Bend water has been permitted to the Sabine River Authority (SRA). They have available approximately 750,000 acre ft (325,000 gallons is 1 Acre Ft) for sale. The state of Texas still holds approximately 280,000 acre Ft of Toledo Bend water. The SRA will eventually sell the water they manage. The water held by the state could be permitted to the SRA or some other group. Dallas and Houston are major potential purchasers of water from Toledo Bend.

The cost of reservoir construction has dramatically increased.

The ground water is found in aquifers. Texas has a number of major and minor aquifers.

East Texas counties get most of their water from the Carrizo Wilcox and the Gulf Coast aquifers. Minor aquifers also provide water for the East Texas.

The important thing to recognize about the aquifers is that they exist in many counties and states. What happens in one location influences other areas. The dark areas in the chart indicate recharge zones. Those are areas where the aquifer is near the surface and water is introduced into that aquifer at that point by rain or river and even reservoir influences.

With the population projections indicating a near doubling for Texas in 50 years water both surface and ground will be in great demand.

To help establish an understanding of the needs and how to meet them the State Legislature initiated a water planning process. The first plan was completed in 1961. In 1997 the Legislature established a regional planning process that involved the people and business affected. There are 16 regions. Each Region does its own analysis and prepares a report which is submitted to the State and used to prepare the state plan. Sabine County is in Region I.

References for this article are from the 2012 Draft State Water Plan and the David Alders presentation to the Region I Water Planning group.