Nov
24
2010
By Kiah Collier
Published Monday, November 22, 2010
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The end of the city of San Angelo’s five-year-old battle to amend its Twin Buttes Water Rights permit is in sight, but the matter is not yet finished.
An administrative law judge in Austin has decided in the city’s favor on two pending applications that the city submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in early 2005, which were later challenged by more than 40 farmers, ranchers and other downstream water rights holders who have argued that the amendments would violate their rights to use the reservoir water.
The judge’s recommendations will go before the TCEQ commission sometime in the next three months. The challengers to the amendments, who filed jointly as the Concho Watershed Association, have filed a series of exceptions to the judge’s recommendation on one of the application amendments.
That amendment application requests “clarification” in the language in the Twin Buttes permit that deals with “what water belongs to the city or that the city could impound in the dam and what water that the city was obligated to pass to downstream water rights holders,” according to Jason Hill, the city’s special counsel who delivered what he called the “good news” to the San Angelo City Council last week.
The portion the application seeks to clarify is a paragraph in the permit that requires San Angelo to release all natural flow downstream on the Concho River, but also permits it to store flood and rainwater “for use in its water system, as well as for eastern Tom Green County farmers served by the Main Canal,” according to a 2008 Standard-Times article published when the association filed a petition opposing the amendments.
Hill and local water attorney Tom Massey, who has also worked for the city, have argued that the paragraph that requires the city to release water to downstream water-rights holders on a non-request basis is null because the paragraph does not exist in a 1979 adjudication certificate, the result of a court review of the water rights along the Concho.
“It contained some innocuous language that quite frankly was more relevant to the pre-adjudication era of water rights management in Texas and it had some language that it carried over into the certificate that really in today’s modern water rights management structure in Texas, didn’t have a place and created some consternation for the Water Utilities Department and how they operated the dam based on that language,” Hill told the council.
Massey said in 2008 that, because the paragraph doesn’t exist in the certificate, it means the water in Twin Buttes is the city’s property and that should be released downstream only on request something Massey said the city has done.
“Stored water is not subject to call,” Massey said. “It’s our water. We paid for the dam. … That’s pretty well-established law.”
Glenn Jarvis, the McAllen-based attorney representing the association, has argued that the paragraph’s absence from the certificate is an error because when the courts were creating adjudication certificates, they did not have the jurisdiction to revise water rights permits.
Although Hill and Massey assured the council that the city has a strong case that will likely trump the exceptions filed in response to the judge’s recommendation or any appeals made after the TCEQ makes its decision — Jarvis is also confident. Jarvis says the association’s argument is still that the missing paragraph is an error, but also that the judge’s decision did not take into account other language in the certificate,
“It has certain provisions in the water rights that protect other water right holders and that is what our argument is, is that the amendment takes away the protection in the water rights that gives protection to other water right holders that they will have water to use.”
Oct
27
2010
County will study ways to regulate groundwater use.
By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 12:31 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010
Published: 10:38 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010
Travis County commissioners unanimously approved a one-year ban Tuesday on nearly all new development in western parts of the county that would rely on water from the Trinity Aquifer.
The county has received complaints of wells that draw from the Trinity running dry. County officials say the ban would give them time to study and enact stricter rules governing what can be built over Travis County’s portion of the Trinity, a massive aquifer that stretches from North Texas to west of San Antonio and is divided into many pockets, including one in western Travis and northern Hays County.
The ban is intended “to take a pause to have a dialogue with those landowners” who draw or might draw from the Trinity, Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt said.
Some affected property owners were unhappy about the county’s decision. Ted Stewart , who owns land near Hamilton Pool Road, said the commissioners chose to infringe on the property rights of rural Travis County residents to appease “mostly downtown metrosexuals or people (already) living on beautiful, 5-acre subdivided properties in the Hill Country.”
The ban does not apply to developments that have already been approved, such as the West Cypress Hills subdivision, where about 100 of 1,500 planned homes have been built. The ban also does not apply to planned subdivisions with pending applications for county permits.
In addition, the ban includes some minor exceptions. For instance, it does not apply to developments with lots larger than 10 acres , as long as the developer does not build any roads.
The ban is necessary, county officials say, because of long-term population growth and water demand forecasts, and wells in the region that periodically run dry. “Most of the dry wells are associated with increased pumpage due to recent development,” independent hydrologist Raymond Slade Jr. wrote in a 2006 report for the Hays Trinity Groundwater District, which oversees pumping from the Trinity in adjacent Hays County.
Todd Reimers, whose family owns large tracts in western Travis County, said enacting such a district in the western part of the county — as opposed to a building ban — is the best way to address the water issues. There are now seven districts operating along the Trinity, and Slade said Travis should have one to ensure that Travis can claim its share of the water.
The state is laying groundwork for such a district, which must be approved by a majority of people who would live within its bounds.
Commissioner Karen Huber, who represents western Travis County, said she supports the idea but is skeptical that the district would effectively regulate water use without additional county rules.
The commissioners approved the ban 3-0; Ron Davis and Margaret Gómez were absent.
“It’s prudent to be proactive,” said John Dupnik , with the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, which helps manage a neighboring portion of the Edwards Aquifer and contends that drought and increased development are probably contributing to dry Trinity wells.
The Trinity is one of the most highly used groundwater resources in Texas, according to the State Water Plan, last updated in 2006. Although its primary use is for municipalities, it is also used for irrigation, livestock and other domestic purposes.
In 2008, during the drought that parched much of Central Texas, Jacob’s Well, a prized spring fed by the Trinity Aquifer in northern Hays County, went dry. It was the first time it had gone dry since 2000 and only the second time since pioneers settled in the area.
Jacob’s Well is the primary source of water for Cypress Creek, which runs through Wimberley.
mtoohey@statesman.com; 445-3673
Oct
15
2010
Who owns the groundwater beneath your land? (By Gary Cutrer)
Landowner groups host groundwater ownership forum in Lubbock
PRESS RELEASE FROM Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Texas landowner groups have joined forces in an effort to ensure that groundwater continues to be recognized as a vested, real private property right. The groups will host an educational forum Oct. 28, at the Merket Alumni Center from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. The forums are aimed to help the public understand current groundwater ownership issues.
The growing effort, currently supported by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA); the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA); the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB); the Texas Poultry Federation (TPF); the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA); the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association (TSGRA); the Texas Cattle Feeders Association (TCFA); the Texas Association of Dairymen (TAD); the South Texans’ Property Rights Association (STPRA); the Riverside and Landowners Protection Coalition; the Texas Forestry Association; and the Texas Land and Mineral Owners Association (TLMA), brings together more than 400,000 Texans who own more than 50 million acres of private property.
According to estimates by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), by 2060 Texas’ population will more than double, increasing its water demand by 27 percent. Because groundwater from Texas aquifers supply more than half the water for the state, it is critical that groundwater resources be managed to provide for current and future use.
Each forum will cover various groundwater topics including the current groundwater regulation under the Texas Water Code, legal issues surrounding groundwater, and why groundwater conservation is important not only to private property owners in Texas, but also to Texas communities.
Forums are free and open to the public. The Merket Alumni Center is located at 17th and University in Lubbock. For more information visit www.groundwaterownership.com.
Oct
2
2010
Water News Briefs (By Mike Mecke)
Published in October 2010 Ranch & Rural Living Magazine
Paved Dallas-Fort Worth Prairie is Fertile Ground for Floodwaters
Sept. 9, 2010 By Randy Lee Loftis Dallas Morning News
The tropical downpour in North Texas this week showed one effect of decades of urbanization: flash floods worsened by the wholesale paving of the prairie.
The remains of Tropical Storm Hermine left many neighborhoods awash Wednesday. And though few areas might escape flooding when 5 to 10 inches of rain falls in a day, planners say widespread development – the replacing of native grasslands and woods with roofs, roads and parking lots – has worsened the risk.
Water that once might have taken its time rambling along wide waterways and soaking into the soil now hurries toward the nearest overloaded drain or down a concrete-lined ditch.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/091010dnmetflood.29bc6e9.html
D-FW Businesses, Governments Trying to Conserve Water
Sept. 12, 2010 By Bill Hanna Fort Worth Star-Telegram
There’s no way of getting around it — you can’t make beer without water. But the MillerCoors Fort Worth Brewery in south Fort Worth, while consuming 887 million gallons in 2009, is using less water these days.
. . .
And for many years Dallas-Fort Worth has battled the perception that it uses an inordinate amount of water compared with other parts of the state. Some Oklahoma legislators involved in the Tarrant Regional Water District’s legal fight to obtain water from north of the Red River have also portrayed the region’s communities as “water hogs” and given that as a reason for opposing the sale of water to Texas.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/12/2462204/dfw-businesses-governments-trying.html
Rainwater Catchment System Put to Use at BHS
Sept. 9, 2009 Bandera County Courier
Bandera High School’s Construction Trades classes made history today by using the district’s first rainwater catchment system, built last school year through a grant made possible by the Bandera ISD Education Foundation, to water the new BHS Softball Field.
With just a few adjustments, the students under the supervision of teacher Brad Flink and BISD maintenance worker Jason Smith were spraying a 30-foot stream of water over the softball outfield.
http://www.bccourier.com/Archives/Community_detail.php?recordID=100909C8
El Paso Water Utilities Projects Underway
Sept. 8, 2010 By Kandolite Flores KFOX El Paso
An El Paso Water Utilities project has closed the right lane of Zaragoza Road just south of Gateway East for about 200 feet. A leak was detected in a waterline, and crews must excavate and survey the line to pinpoint the location of the leak. This work is necessary to prevent disruption of water service to customers and further inconveniences for drivers. The lane is anticipated to reopen by Friday, September 17. We ask for the community’s patience during this project.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/24926588/detail.html
Securing a Balance for Region’s Future Water
Sept. 12, 2010 By Robert Rivard My SA News
Imagine a worst-case scenario in the coming years: A federal judge advised by officials charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act decides when San Antonio residents can water their lawns and when farmers can irrigate their crops.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/water_work_laboring_to_secure_a_regions_future_balance_102712199.html
Water Symposium Presentations Slated for Fredericksburg, San Antonio, Kerrville
The 2010-2011 Texas Water Symposium Series will provide perspectives from policy makers, scientists, water resource experts and regional leaders. Join us as we explore together, the complexity and challenges in providing water for Texans in this century. Each session is free and open to the public. Nov. 11: Texas Tech University, Hill Country University Center Bldg, Fredericksburg; Jan 27: Witte Museum, San Antonio co-hosted and sponsored by the Witte Museum; March 31: Schreiner University, Callioux Campus Activity Center, Kerrville Texas.
http://www.schreiner.edu/news/2010/news10_sept13_texas_water0913.html
Texas Water Development Board
Providing Application for Financial Assistance
Texas Water Development Board is offering a new application for financial assistance for water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/assistance/financial/fin_assistance/
Texas Irrigation Expo October 21-22, 2010
TexasIrrigationExpo.com
The Rio Grande Valley will be the site of a major, statewide exposition on agricultural irrigation to be held in Mercedes.
The two-day event will include presentations by expert speakers, tours of demonstration sites currently using on-farm water conservation tools and techniques, a scholarship contest for high school students, and exhibitors displaying the latest technology and equipment. The Harlingen Irrigation District is coordinating the event as part of the state’s Agricultural Water Conservation Demonstration Initiative, which is funded through a grant from the Texas Water Development Board. This event is free and open to the public.
http://www.texasirrigationexpo.org/
N.M. Official: Headwaters Deserve Special Protection
Sept. 15, 2010 By Susan Montoya Bryan AP/Alamogorda Daily News
Nearly half of New Mexico’s surface water comes from federal forest lands, and some of those headwater streams, lakes and wetlands deserve special protections to ensure they continue providing clean water for the state, a top official with the New Mexico Environment Department said Tuesday. Marcy Leavitt, head of the department’s Water and Wastewater Division, was among the experts who testified before the Water Quality Control Commission at the start of a four-day hearing at the state capitol.
The commission is considering a petition by the department that aims to designate about 700 miles of rivers and streams, 29 lakes and more than 4,900 acres of wetlands in a dozen wilderness areas as so-called “outstanding national resource waters.” The designation would protect the waters by prohibiting any activities that would degrade water quality. Several of New Mexico’s rivers flow into Texas.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newmexico/ci_16076925
Aug
12
2010
San Angelo: STATE OF THE CITY: Water’s role in future stressed (By Mike Mecke)
San Angelo water news – Great to see this very nice little west-central Texas city seriously talking water issues again. I lived near Angelo and shopped there for eight years and I think it is the best small city in Texas – I hope it does not outgrow that designation – bigger is not always better!
This article below could not carry all the items discussed. But, no mention that the Hickory aquifer’s water is radioactive and must be specially treated before use? Isn’t that a pretty major issue? That item has blocked potential sales of this groundwater to other areas in the past.
Or, of starting an even more serious water conservation and Xeriscape landscaping program – which includes rainwater harvesting? A rainbarrel program similar to Austin’s might kick start it, but I am betting that Angelo residents are much more water savvy than Austin’s and many grew up on harvested rainwater on surrounding farms and ranches. San Angelo and the area are in a good location to use rainwater harvesting with large tanks - my former Extension program got a large rainwater tank installed at Baptist retirement homes center and they had wisely planned many more in order to reduce their outside water demands. Rainwater can also be used to flush camodes and even treated fairly easily for drinking water. Check it out in our magazine advertisers and web sites listed on line. Contact the local AgriLife Extension office for assistance.
Also not discussed in the article was that the three older, shallow flood control lakes furnishing much of the City’s water should be dredged MUCH deeper and silt sold every time the lakes are down – pretty often? Should’a/could’a been done years ago during very low lake level periods. But, better now than never! Deeper lakes have much less surface area to lose water from evaporation, they hold more water and the water often stays cooler and cleaner with less algae. And, a side benefit is improved recreation and fishing for area residents.
Without a firm long-term water supply no town can grow. “Water is Life!” Mike
STATE OF THE CITY: Water’s role in future stressed
By Kiah Collier
Updated Tuesday, August 10, 2010
SAN ANGELO, Texas — City leaders on Tuesday received an overwhelmingly positive response from San Angelo’s business community for their handling of the budget shortfall, continued execution of the Capital Improvement Plan and desire to drop the sunset of the half-cent sales tax.
The occasion was the 2010 State of the City presentation, titled “Preparing, Changing, and Improving our Community to Face the Challenges of Tomorrow.”……………………………………………………
Chamber of Commerce President Phil Neighbors, who has seen three state-of-city presentations during his tenure, said he thinks the city has done well addressing the challenges of having to downsize services in the face of a budget shortfall while continuing to move forward with the Capital Improvement Plan, which was implemented in 2007, and securing the city’s future viability with projects like the Hickory Aquifer pipeline — San Angelo’s first underground water supply, expected to be online by 2014…………………………………
“Sunset or not, we can do away with the half-cent sales tax (later),” he said.
In his sixth state-of-city address, Dominguez also emphasized the crucial nature of securing a long-term funding source for a long-term water supply, starting with the Hickory project, which remains largely unfunded.
“This underground water supply, I cannot stress how important it is to the future of this community,” he said…………………………………………………
Jun
10
2010
East Texas Farmers Battered by Dry Spring (By Mike Mecke)
While many Texas ranches and farms enjoy a wet, green spring and other areas are presently flooding, the eastern part of the state suffers from drought. Drought is always just around the next corner in Texas – something that most urban or city folks fail to recognize. In some areas, both cities and smaller towns, leaders and developers constantly push for more growth, more thirsty lawns, more water slurping golf courses and never think beyond tomorrow!
Our state was fairly small in population when the terrible “Drought of Record”, running from the late 40′s thru 1957, occurred. With our huge population and projected doubling by 2060, what would happen if we had another five to seven or eight year severe drought?
It would hit us more quickly and harder. Just as the recent two year Central Texas drought did. Keep this in your mind when your town or city starts yelling for more growth – will you have the water for them? From where – at what environmental, community and economic costs? Will area irrigators and farmers have to go out of business to provide that water? Does your community want to trade vital agricultural businesses and families for new subdivisions? Do you want to depend upon China or Mexico or other countries for our food?
Forecast looks gloomy for fruit, cattle growers because of dry conditions.
By Chad Thomas
TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH
Sunday, June 6, 2010
TYLER — Plumes of dust billowed out from under the wheels of Darren Rozell’s tractor as it rumbled across a stretch of thirsty dirt at his orchard.
Like many agricultural sites throughout East Texas, Rozell’s land just northwest of Tyler has gradually dried out during the past two months, and as much as 60 percent of his fruit crop — which includes peaches, blackberries and plums — could be lost this season because of a lack of moisture. Continue Reading »
May
10
2010
5/10/2010 High Plains Lake: Mercury mystery (By Mike Mecke)
High level of element in Lake Alan Henry baffles scientists
By Elliott Blackburn | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Monday, April 26, 2010
Story last updated at 4/26/2010 – 12:11 am
High West Texas levels of a natural toxin have researchers scratching their heads.
John A. Bowersmith / Avalanche-Journal
Anglers try their luck at Lake Alan Henry in March. In February, health warnings were issued because of high concentrationsof mercury, an innocuous element which can turn toxic in water. Biologists and other researchers who study the chemical said they don’t know why mercury levels are so high.
Concentrations of mercury, an innocuous element that can turn toxic in water and prompted health warnings at a Lubbock fishing spot in February, have stumped biologists and other researchers who study the element. Mercury levels in fish do not affect drinking water quality.
Researchers who spoke with The Avalanche-Journal couldn’t tie the problem to any of the dozens of possible sources of the pollutant tainting fish at Lake Alan Henry.
“The truth is, we don’t know, and it’s a mystery as to why it would be
elevated in that region,” said Matthew Chumchal, an assistant professor of biology at Texas Christian University.
Most mercury floats through the atmosphere in an elemental, low-toxic form, belched into the air by coal-fired power plants, forest fires and even volcanic blasts. It can roam for years, and, in some forms, over thousands of kilometers before becoming mixed up with rain or settling into waterways.
The company the element keeps when it reaches lakes and rivers causes most of the trouble, Chumchal said.
Common, water-borne bacteria methylates mercury. Methylmercury does a better job of sticking to the tissue of fish, among other things, and poses the threats state health officials warned of in February.
Methylmercury levels found as early as 2005 in largemouth bass at Lake Alan Henry exceeded state health department levels. Further testing on fish captured in 2008 revealed mercury levels considered a danger to human health.
“As long as it’s straight mercury, it’s not a problem,” said Charlie Munger, a Canyon-based Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist. “When it’s methylated by bacteria and things, then it’s taken up into the food chain.”
State health officials warned in early February against eating more than two eight-ounce meals of fish from the lake in a month.
High levels of the pollutant can damage the brain, kidneys and developing fetuses, making pregnant women especially vulnerable to the pollutant, Chumchal said.
State testing did not find dangerous levels of any other carcinogens, pesticides or other hazardous materials.
The problems repeat mercury levels found at Lake Meredith. Researchers couldn’t put a finger on why West Texas would have such consistent problems, but had a few clues.
Coal-fired electric plants supply most of the mercury in the atmosphere. Southwestern Public Service Company stacks at Harrington and Tolk stations spew the element as a byproduct of the cheap energy source that accounts for more than half the electricity powering Panhandle homes.
But mercury can spend years in the atmosphere and travel the globe, so sitting so close to power plants doesn’t imply high mercury levels, researchers said. Asian plants launched more than half the man-made mercury floating around the globe, compared to the 3 percent of man-made emissions traced to the United States, based on studies published over the past 15 years.
Panhandle geology may encourage the bacteria turning the mercury into its more dangerous form, Munger said. More acidic lake water also tends to have more mercury problems. Or it could be a case of growing pains for Lake Alan Henry, Chumchal said; new lakes tend to have mercury problems.
“The younger the reservoir, the more methylmercury you see in fish,” Chumchal said. “The age of Alan Henry could, potentially, be a factor.”
Even if researchers had a smoking methyl gun, tracing it in the Panhandle could pose problems. There just wasn’t enough data in West Texas, Chumchal said.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires permits for mercury releases into the air and water, but air-testing was difficult, spokesman Terry Clawson said in an e-mailed response to questions. New facilities must have monitoring equipment – older facilities, like Tolk and Harrington, estimate mercury based on the fuel they use. Most state testing was done just as it was at Alan Henry – on fish, far removed from its source.
Researchers have more than a decade of tracking in eastern and western United States provided by a series of voluntarily installed equipment monitored by the Mercury Deposition Network.
Their maps show a blank white sandbar between two brown ponds of data traveling up from West Texas into the Dakotas. The $11,000 monitoring stations don’t exist in West Texas; a Fort Worth site recently shut down, program coordinator David Gay said.
“Texas is a tough place to break into,” Gay said. “It’s a huge hole in our network.”
Anglers remained more interested in what they could snare from the water on the end of a line than what might line the muscles of their catch.
Fishing tournaments at the future water supply and current bass fishing gem Lake Alan Henry continued undeterred by warnings against eating fish caught from the reservoir out
Munger, the Canyon-based biologist, said mercury wouldn’t stunt the growth of record-breaking lunkers, a main concern for fisherman trying to set lake records.
Sport fisherman tend to catch and release their bass, anyway, to encourage larger fish and the lure of bigger lake records, said Stacy Miller, tournament director of the Hub City West Texas Anglers.
He worried a little for families who may eat fish from the lake, but didn’t eat much himself, he said.
“It does concern us, but like I said, we don’t eat a whole lot of them,” Miller said.
To comment on this story:
elliott.blackburn@lubbockonline.com l 766-8722
james.ricketts@lubbockonline.com l 766-8706
Apr
14
2010
San Angelo – “Securing long-term water supply critical to city (By Mike Mecke)
By Kiah Collier
Posted April 10, 2010
San Angelo Standard-Times
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The San Angelo City Council didn’t take action on much last week but provided direction on a variety of important issues.
One item on the agenda caught my eye when it was posted Friday afternoon: Discussion of future steps for a long-term water supply.
I immediately thought, “future, future.” With a population that is expected to double between now and 2060 and available groundwater becoming more and more scarce, the state’s water needs are set to increase exponentially and the search for it will become more and more competitive — and more expensive.
Every city official I’ve talked to has said water supply is one of the top issues — if not the top one — facing San Angelo in the immediate and long-term future. Everyone can agree that a city’s stability is shot without a stable supply of H20, but what does that stability cost?
It turns out the discussion on Tuesday was about ways to fund the $120 million Hickory Aquifer project, which is scheduled to bring water into the city by 2014. Long story short, the city has owned rights to Hickory since the 1970s and is finally getting around to tapping into it. Good plan. But, the project is still largely unfunded. Before it’s all said and done with, City Manager Harold Dominguez said, there would most certainly be an increase in base water rates, but the city is trying to figure out ways to “minimize” that impact.
There has been $14 million dedicated to the project from the half-cent sales tax, but that leaves $106 million unaccounted for. There were various options presented Tuesday on how to chip away at what’s left, and your half-cent sales tax dollars appeared to be the best solution that came out of the council meeting.
But Hickory is not the end of the story.
With the city likely to face stricter usage restrictions on Lake Ivie Reservoir, its primary water supply, all Hickory is going to be doing for the first 11 years is making up for that loss — at least until 2025 when the city will see a 40-something percent bump in the amount of water coming in from the aquifer (Much like the usage restrictions on Ivie, the staggered increase from the Hickory supply was set up as part of the permit approval process through the Hickory Underground Water District to help preserve the life of the aquifer). The main reason the city hasn’t yet faced usage restrictions on Ivie is that it has started using much less water, thanks to public education and conservation efforts, says the city’s Water Utilities Director Will Wilde.
Because of those potential usage restrictions as well as the city’s estimated population growth, Wilde says the city “most definitely” needs to be looking beyond Hickory for another supply — a “plan B,” as city council member Charlotte Farmer has called it. But Wilde told me that Hickory is the only available supply within a 50 miles radius of the city. It’s not until at least 100 miles to 150 miles out that there is something else to work with. What does this mean?
“Those costs could be double and triple for what we’re seeing for the cost of the development for the Hickory,” Wilde said of the cost of bringing in water to the city from that far away.
In the Hickory funding discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, Dominguez noted that O.C. Fisher Lake and Twin Buttes, San Angelo’s main water supply before Ivie, were never meant to be water supplies — they were built primarily for flood control. Dominguez also said these two sources were nearly dried up when he first began working for the city in 2003. And we’re still technically in a drought, Wilde reminded me. Moral of the story: San Angelo really, really needs access to groundwater and needs to get moving on Hickory as soon as possible.
The economy is apparently a reason for the rush, too.
Dominguez said Tuesday the city needs to take advantage of the low bids contractors are making because they are short on work while the economy is still recovering (also, interest rates are low). Dominguez said this could save the city anywhere from $30 million to $40 million dollars on the project.
The other options Dominguez and city Finance Director Michael Dane presented involved taking advantage of certain tax rate reductions and/or the possibility of asking voters if the city can extend the “sunset” on the half-cent sales tax from 20 years to 30 years, which could provide an additional $20 million for the project.
The sunset was put in place when the half-cent sales tax was established so that any debt acquired for a sales tax-funded project must be paid off in 20 years or less. I wonder if we will find another supply before Hickory is paid off?
I’m also interested to know what the city is thinking about for its plan B. Options I’ve heard about include a regional partnership (we already share Ivie with Abilene and other surrounding communities). How much is securing that plan B going to cost, both purchasing rights and getting it to the city?
The good news is that the water in San Angelo may soon be tasting better. The water coming in from Hickory by 2014 will be mixed in with Ivie water at the water treatment plant, but it’s a softer, better quality water. Treatment will cost about the same, Wilde said, but you are likely to notice a difference in the taste.
Kiah Collier is a multimedia journalist who covers city hall and local and state politics. Contact her at kcollier@gosanangelo.com.
Apr
12
2010
by Bob Campbell ( my bolding emphasis added….mm)
Midland Reporter-Telegram
Published: Saturday, April 3, 2010 5:08 PM CDT
Advancing Midland’s water supply system into the modern era has been an expensive, grueling task, but $21.5 million and 2 1/2 years later, the city’s purification plant at Midland Drive and Bluebird Lane is near completion and ready to boost pressures on the north and west sides of town.
A key element in answering water questions for at least the next 20 years, the plant features a new pump station, chlorine facility, electrical switchgear, computer system and such esoteric equipment as scrubbers and a sludge dewatering facility…………….
However, an $8 million filtering system may be added next year to lower arsenic and fluoride levels from the Paul Davis Wellfield 30 miles north of Midland, he indicated………………..
“This should serve us for the next 20 years or longer,” said Purvis. “People ought to see their water pressure increase in June or July as pumps come up to meet the summer demand.”
Having raised arsenic and fluoride limits, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires the city to take no more than 25 percent of its supply from the Davis Wellfield with the rest coming from Colorado River Municipal Water District lakes at Ballinger, Robert Lee and Snyder, Purvis said.
Read more: http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2010/04/03/news/top_stories/water_plant.txt#ixzz0kvUZ3AO4
Mar
24
2010
A border runs through it (the Rio Grande) (By Mike Mecke)
(maybe in the end, more volatile and important to border region Texans than the current drug war – the legal division of the Rio’s waters is sometimes like Solomon’s decision! Read on……
Mexico unable to provide promised water to Texas
It’s caused international incidents with border flair. A Mexican governor has villified Texas leaders for playing politics with it and U.S. lawyers have threatened to sue for violation of international treaties related to it. Steeped in the annals of America’s symbiotic relationship with Mexico is the two countries’ long-standing and sometimes tense agreement over an issue more far-reaching than border security and immigration: water.
The Treaty of Feb. 3, 1944 — also called the “Treaty of the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande” — directs Mexico to deliver water to the U.S. from six tributaries that feed into the Rio Grande, in exchange for water from the Colorado River. But the Mexican government’s inability to meet its current water obligation has some Texas businesses, agricultural leaders and state lawmakers keeping a close eye on their southern neighbor.
The treaty, which runs in five-year cycles, mandates that Mexico deliver an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. annually from the waters that flow into Mexico’s Rio Grande, known there as the Rio Bravo. In exchange, Mexico is entitled to 1.5 million acre-feet of water annually from the Colorado River, which drains into Mexico at the Arizona-California border. (An acre-foot of water is 325,821 gallons.) But in the first year of the treaty’s current cycle, which ended Feb. 28, Mexico delivered just 189,371 acre-feet of water to the U.S. — well short of the expected annual average.
Sally Spener, public affairs officer with the El Paso-based International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), said this doesn’t present a crisis yet; the treaty was authored in a fashion that allows Mexico to make up the difference. Mexico could make up last year’s deficit by releasing about 510,600 acre-feet by the end of February 2011. “The reason the treaty did this is, that particular region is affected by highly variable conditions, so that you can have low flow one year and you can have a hurricane the next,” Spener said. “That’s why it is a five-year average that is required rather than an annual delivery amount.”
Some critics have less confidence. They point to Mexico’s past delivery troubles, including a feud the country settled with U.S. farmers in 2005, after Mexico fell behind in its delivery by more than 700,000 acre-feet. At the time, Mexican authorities said their own water needs were preventing the release. After Mexico agreed to expedite delivery the dispute ended — but the aftereffects still linger.
The treaty directs water use in Texas from Fort Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico, and has a huge impact on Texas agricultural producers and municipal water suppliers who rely on the river or their water. The majority of water delivered to the U.S. comes from two main tributaries that feed into the Rio Grande: the Conchos, which enters the river in Presidio and in Ojinaga, Mexico; and the Salado, which enters the Rio Grande at the Falcon Dam reservoir, which sits on the Starr/Zapata county line south of Laredo.
At a recent interim committee hearing of the Texas Senate’s International Relations and Trade Committee at the Capitol, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials explained that Mexico is not in violation of the treaty — yet. “It is something that we have brought to the attention of the IBWC and have scheduled a meeting with the State Department,” testified Carlos Rubinstein, a TCEQ commissioner. “Anything that impacts the delivery of water to the Rio Grande ultimately impacts the delivery of water to all of the residents and could also impact the colonias.”
Ken Jones, the director of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, explained that Mexico holds the cards in the situation, at least geographically. “Seventy-eight percent of the watershed that feeds into Falcon and Amistad that supplies the water for the U.S. side is actually physically in Mexico,” he said. “That’s why the compliance thing is so important to us because it’s limited access to the U.S. side in terms of inflow to the reservoir system.”
What do the Mexicans say when asked about their shortfall? “They say they need if for their side, too,” said Jones.
Most of the Mexican water is used for irrigation in Texas. Rio Grande Valley Water Master Erasmo Yarrito, who calculated water use percentages for this story, said since at least 2007, the majority of the area’s water was used for irrigation — about 72 percent that year, rising to about 80 percent in 2008 and 2009.
Jones said reservoir levels are monitored on a regular basis to check the inflow of water from Mexico. The situation with Mexico was dire last time, not only because of the backlog, but because of the simultaneous drought experienced by the region. But the reservoirs are currently at greater than 80 percent capacity this time around — a good sign. Jones said it isn’t until reservoir levels reach the 50 to 55 percent capacity range that municipalities initiate local water restrictions.
Rubenstein said the impact of the Mexican water shortfall is “primarily to agricultural users, but that then translates into an economic impact to the Valley as well.” Because 100 percent of water-supply corporations and municipalities in the Rio Grande Valley get their water from the Rio Grande, Rubinstein added, “if the river is short-changed, it will affect just about every sector of the Valley.”
“We are continuing to work with them,” Rubenstein said. Mexico “fully caught up [in the past] and were actually able to close two cycles.”
source:
http://www.bcwaternews.com/TX/032410.html
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