Planning could limit water wells

The Northeast Regional Water Planning Group (Region D), was told Wednesday that groundwater planning will be coming to Northeast Texas.

Groundwater conservation districts have the authority over wells which pump water from aquifers and the power to limit withdrawals.

Dr. Robert Mace of the Texas Water Development Board, addressing the group at Mount Pleasant, said Northeast Texas is one of the few water planning regions in Texas without groundwater conservation districts even though there are six groundwater aquifers in the area.

Such districts can be formed by petitions to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, by attachments to existing districts, or by the passage of enabling legislation by the Texas Legislature.

If local water users do not want conservation districts when one is needed, the state can establish one, he said.

"You will see more groundwater conservation districts," he said, "and when one is needed the state can establish one in a prority groundwater management area. Groundwater management is coming to your area."

He said existing groundwater conservation districts outside Region D can determine future groundwater conditions in the region.

Mace said in 2005, House Bill 1763 put into place state regulations providing for joint planning between water planning groups and groundwater conservation districts in Texas.

HB 1763, he said, requires each water planning group in Texas to decide the future of groundwater supplies and the future of local springs, as well as a calculation of how much water can be safely pumped from local aquifers.

He said two groundwater management areas (GMA 8 and 11) are now focused on Northeast Texas, even though there are no groundwater conservation districts within the planning region. "As you move ahead with your water planning, you will need to have groundwater numbers in the plan you are now working on," said Mace.

Ray Flemons of Dallas, Region D's engineering consultant, told the planning region that Northeast Texas can anticipate a 72 percent increase in population during the 50-year planning period (2010-2060). During this period, he said, water demand is expected to increase by 50 percent, requiring an additional 277,900 acre feet of water.

He said brackish water (water with a high salt content) may become an important supplemental source of water for the region.

Because there were no strategies proposed for dealing with brackish water in Region D's 2006 water plan, he said brackish water should be a water source in current planning.

Even though disposal injection wells can be expensive, brackish water may be an essential future + water source for some Northeast Texas suppliers, particularly for municipalities and perhaps livestock and agriculture.

Another engineering consultant, Reeves Hayter, reported on a study designed to determine if it is feasible and practical to cluster small regional water suppliers into larger regional suppliers in the interest of greater efficiencies and lower operating costs.

He said the study looked at 93 small systems (those with 200 or fewer water meters) located near larger systems, but found in September that only 45 were still independently operating. The remaining systems had been purchased by a larger system, had ceased to exist, or were part of a consolidated system

He said the study produced the conclusion that small water systems should consolidate in the years ahead to achieve operating efficiencies and reasonable water costs.

Richard LeTourneau reported on a meeting held Nov. 12 by the joint study commission between regional water planners in Northeast Texas and the Dallas Fort Worth area. He said the commission will meet again in Austin January 12 to discuss ongoing tasks related to poviding the means for serving the two areas with water in a manner consistent with Senate Bill 3.

Walt Sears, administrator for Region I, said the next meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 17 at the Mount Pleasant Civil Center, starting at 1 p.m.

The Region D group serves Bowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Hunt, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Red River, Rains, Smith, Titus, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties.