by SEAN KIMMONS

The city of Kyle plans to go to court to appeal its permit request to pump additional water out of Edward’s Aquifer, which was hosed down back in February, city officials say.

On Feb. 11, the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District’s board of directors unanimously alloted an additional 100.7 million gallons to the city, increasing its future pumpage to 265.7 million gallons annually.

The city had originally requested a Class B Conditional Production Permit to more than double its pumpage from 165 million gallons to 350 million gallons annually for public water use.

Under the conditional permit, the city is allowed to export aquifer water from its well, located near the Performing Arts Center on Kohler’s Crossing, to serve water customers outside the Barton Springs district.

Kyle city councilmembers voted 7-0 to appeal the decision following an executive session at its council meeting on June 1. The appeal is likely to be filed at one of the district courts in San Marcos.

“The council felt that we had achieved all of the requirements,” Mayor Lucy Johnson said of the permit, first requested in late 2008. “They had no good legal reason to deny our permit.”

Johnson believes that the district’s board of directors was unfairly swayed by the “emotional outpour” by environmental activists.

In late August, a drawn-out hearing began when the Save Our Springs Alliance contested the city’s requested permit, fearing it would impact endangered salamanders and local well owners.

“They mainly want [the permit] to have cheaper water than their current water sources,” Bill Bunch, the organization’s staff attorney, had said.

John Dupnik, an environmental permit specialist for the Barton Springs district, says it charges 69 cents per 1,000 gallons for Kyle’s permit.

“It’s relatively cheap,” Dupnik said. “We’re capped at what we can charge.”

Kyle officials previously told the board that they could try to obtain more water, if needed, from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA).

Buying water from GBRA, however, is four times more expensive, city officials say.

Mary Stone, the board’s vice president, agreed with lessening Kyle’s water intake, saying that local residents became concerned about the city’s watering policies during last year’s drought.

“I think it’s very hard for the people of the district to understand how they aren’t able to water their lawns when they can drive over to Kyle to see them watering,” she said. “This is the best action we can take at this point.”

Under the new permit rules, Kyle is ordered to cut its pumpage to 50 percent at the first alarm stage drought, 75 percent at the critical stage and 100 percent at the exceptional stage.

Kyle is now the second largest local water permittee in the Barton Springs district, behind the City of Buda, which can pump up to 275 million gallons each year.

Also, Kyle can use up to roughly 1.6 billion gallons of water annually from five water suppliers, according to city figures.