Commentary: We must strike a balance between conserving and pumping groundwater

I hope to see you at the Bastrop Convention Center on Monday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. for a special meeting called by the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District to discuss desired future aquifer conditions.

The “water wars” in Bastrop, Lee, Burleson and Milam counties have been going on for decades. On the one side are those who seek to develop water for growing municipal use. On the other side are those, like me, who want to conserve. It’s the Lost Pines board – residents from Lee and Bastrop counties — who must strike a balance.

If you just got here, especially from California, you know the folly of mass movement of water to develop areas without adequate supply. Yet, the largest public-private partnership water pipeline in the U.S. – Vista Ridge – is located over our own central Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer. Along with other mega-projects, it threatens the vitality of our local groundwater supply as well as the mighty Colorado River. San Antonio ratepayers living in one of the poorest cities in the U.S. are paying exorbitant rates for Vista Ridge water, while domestic and livestock wells in Lee and Burleson counties are already failing because of massive groundwater pumping.

I volunteer for “WaterDefenders.org”, a coalition of nonprofits Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund and Environmental Stewardship. These all-volunteer organizations have had incremental success in defending against depletion of aquifers by profit-driven water marketers. However, we must realize that aquifers beneath us still face being mined well beyond their recharge.

Development in communities east of Austin is also in overdrive. In Bastrop County alone, housing for 2,500 people is under construction, with housing for another 5,000 in the works.

WaterDefenders.org just released a report that lays out the critically important debate between five area groundwater districts, including Lost Pines. The districts must soon jointly set their “desired” future aquifer conditions in the year 2070. How much drawdown in water levels can aquifers, river systems, humans and ecosystems tolerate, is the question.

“Environmental Stewardship estimates that the Colorado River will become a ‘losing stream’ when [Lost Pines] pumping in the Simsboro formation exceeds approximately 78,000 AFY; a conservation red-line,” the coalition’s report states. “The [82,839 AFY] pumping proposed by [Lost Pines] staff exceeds this threshold and robs the river of [necessary inflows]. In a future severe drought, there would be little or no groundwater flowing to the river to retain its ecological resilience in support of fish, wildlife, irrigation, or recreation.

“SAWDF reviewed the proposed pumping and updated [its] Economic Impact Study. SAWDF estimates the increased pumping will damage more than 500 domestic/livestock wells in Lee and Bastrop counties. The economic impact for landowners with domestic/livestock wells, including mitigation costs, lost property value, and lost income, is conservatively estimated at $155,526,151 … 

“Due to the unreasonable impacts on surface waters, especially the Colorado River, property rights in groundwater, and damage to domestic/livestock wells, WaterDefenders.org requests that the LPGCD board vote to approve no more than 30,303 AFY of pumping in the Simsboro formation with a predicted average drawdown in water level of 183 feet.”

Linda Curtis is a board member of the nonprofit, nonpartisan League of Independent Voters at LIVTX.org.