By Andy Sevilla
Water concerns run deep, possibly deeper than the available water supply, as a proposed 2,200-home residential development is one step closer to locating in Mountain City’s extra-territorial jurisdiction.
Mountain City council members Monday night unanimously approved an ordinance consenting to the creation of a Municipal Utility District (MUD) within the city’s ETJ for Anthem, a residential project that could see as many as 2,200 homes on about 679 acres.
The project developer, Clark Wilson, contracted with Electro Purification, a private water supplier that draws out of the Trinity Aquifer, for up to 1MGD (million gallons of water per day) for his new development.
Electro Purification also is in negotiations with the city of Buda and Goforth Water Special Utility District to pipe an additional collective 5MGD from the Cow Creek Formation of the Trinity Aquifer to both entities. Buda is seeking 2MGD to quench future water needs, while Goforth Water is asking for 3MGD.
Groundwater Management Area (GMA) 10, Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District’s (BSEACD) primary groundwater management area, set policy identifying the Desired Future Condition (DFC) for the Trinity Aquifer in 2010. The DFC was set for regional average well drawdown, during average recharge conditions, to not exceed 25 feet over the next 50 years.
BSEACD General Manager John Dupnik told the Hays Free Press that the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), after running the identified Trinity Aquifer DFC through its models, found that the aquifer could not afford more than 1,288 acre-feet of water pumped per year in the whole BSEACD area.
Electro Purification’s proposed pumping of 5MGD from the Trinity Aquifer equates to 5,600 acre-feet of water per year — more than 4,300 acre-feet above the recommended amount — Dupnik said. Such pumping could potentially affect numerous wells in the immediate vicinity, he said.
Electro Purification’s wells, however, are not inside BSEACD and therefore are only governed by the state’s so-called rule of capture, which grants landowners the right to capture the water beneath their property and pump as much water as is available, regardless of the effects to neighboring wells.
Anthem’s developer, Wilson, said BSEACD “would like to regulate well beyond their area. I think they would like to regulate the whole state of Texas.”
Wilson said Dupnik’s concerns of potential effects to neighboring Trinity Aquifer wells remind him of the “hysteria” surrounding peak oil extraction about seven or eight years ago. He said those concerns proved wrong as the state now is awash of oil.
“At the end of the day, we’ll be taking care of what we’re supposed to take care of,” he said.
For Dupnik, he said while the effects of pumping 5MGD out of the Trinity Aquifer are still unknown, his office will closely watch any developments.
“It’s hard to know (the effects),” he said. “We’re familiar with what they are proposing… but until we have some data, we have some information we can fully assess, we can’t model it, we can’t fully assess what the effects are.”
And those effects could potentially affect Trinity Aquifer well permitting inside BSEACD, Dupnik said.
Mountain City council members also approved a development agreement to direct Anthem’s development and ensure a sustainable neighborhood.
“It’s a give and take process,” Wilson said. “We reached a good compromise and I think we were all on the same page as to wanting to be good stewards of the land.”
Wilson said if all goes right, groundbreaking could come about in 2016, with about 150 to 200 homes built per year. He said final build out would take between 10 and 15 years.
