Groundwater is the primary source of water used in Texas. As contrasted with surface water, which is state owned and managed, groundwater is privately owned. Groundwater ownership and allocation is governed by the common law rule of capture and its use is determined by the same rule and by rules of groundwater conservation districts.
During the Republic years of 1836 to 1845, and when the population in 1843 was estimated to be 37,500, it was not unreasonable to follow the English common law in matters of groundwater. It was also still reasonable as a rule when the law was upheld in court in 1890. At that time our state was overwhelmingly rural and agriculture was its main occupation. The estimated population was just over 600,000. It was still a reasonable in 1940 when the population had grown to over 6,000,000 and the state was still considered to be largely rural. By the time of the last census in 2000, the population of Texas was 24,782,302, and we were no longer a rural state. The figure established by the census of 2010 is not yet in but no one doubts that growth has continued.
In 2009, it was estimated that Bexar, Comal, Hays and Travis Counties had a combined population of approaching three million. With the exception of water from Canyon Lake for some towns in Comal and Bexar Counties and from the lakes above and around Travis County, much of this population is entirely dependent upon groundwater.
Bluntly put, we have a water problem. Bluntly put, we also have a problem locally with new members of the Hays Trinity Groundwater District who, working as a bloc appear to intend to loosen, if not to undo the powers of the District to maintain reasonable methods to protect and maintain availability of water.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
What is at stake is simple and serious for all of us who own homes in and around these counties. For some time now there has been concern that overbuilding has raised and will only continue to heighten the possibility that, without sensible control of the water usage and conservation, there could come a time when properties here might become useless and unsalable.
In Hays County attempts have been made to manage the number of wells pumping from the aquifer by increasing the acreage required to support a well. Any such requirements have been vehemently opposed landowners and developers.
There are citizens who are deeply concerned that one of the new members of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation Distirct’s Board of Directors currently has a suit targeting Hays County development regulations, that another allegedly has indicated a belief that drawing down the aquifer causing local springs to stop flowing is a viable method of conservation, and that another was admonished for allegedly using information available through HTGCD to contact prospective customers.
Concerned citizens should make it a point to attend meetings of the HTGCD and to make their concerns known there as well as to our members of the state legislature when the new session convenes in 2011.