The Ridgerunner

The unusually hot and dry weather pattern our area has experienced since early June has caused drought conditions not seen since the 1950s.
According to a recent report by Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist, the current drought is the second worst in recorded history for the eastern Hill Country, most of Central Texas and the middle Texas coast.
The drought of the mid-1950s is considered the worst drought on record for most of Central Texas. However, for Bastrop, Caldwell and Lee counties, the current drought appears to be the worst ever. The past three months of unprecedented heat, combined with the lack of rain, have created some of the most severe drought conditions ever experienced across Central Texas.
These unusually hot and dry conditions follow a pattern of below normal rainfall during the winter and spring of this year and the near record dry conditions in 2008.

At this writing, members of the WPOA Board of Directors are hard at work turning the old tennis center now a part of the Jacobs Well Preserve into a new home for the Association office. After a clean up and some renovations, the building will be leased to the WPOA for a minimum of 24 months at a greatly reduced rate. The estimated savings for the two-year period will be around $19,000. The space will be used for meetings, making gatherings more convenient and less costly for the community. The Preserve was created to protect the land around the well and to offer education about management practices that will sustain this invaluable natural resource. We appreciate the Watershed Association’s offer to allow us use of this facility.

The new office is located at 101 Woodacre Drive .

“For Love of Water” Conference
September 11-13

This conference in Wimberley will explore ways we can show kindness to the waters that sustain our life. We can use less water so that there is more for the river and the wildlife. Will we do this voluntarily or do we need meters on our wells? Can we re-use wash water to water our plants? Can we use plants that are adapted to using less water? We could capture the raindrops falling on our roofs, or falling on deep-rooted grasses in nature’s way of collecting water and sending it to the aquifer.

For registration information, call Peggy Cole 512-847-3822 or Amy Normand 830-868-2427 or go to www.hmitexas.org

The HTGCD has scheduled a public hearing on its waste rule Thursday, Sept. 17, 5 p.m. at Dripping Springs City Hall. The public hearing will also include consideration of three water permits and several notices of violation. Three of the district’s “canary” monitoring wells, Mt. Baldy, a second Wimberley Water Supply well, and at Henly Baptist Church were showing drops of 20 to 30 feet as of the last check. These are some of the steepest drops in ten years and since the 2006 drought. Although public water suppliers have scaled back their pumping amounts by around 17 percent, that is still far short of the preferred 30 percent.