Published: April 19, 2008 12:16 am         

Water district to allow lake

Compromise puts limits on water use

JACKSONVILLE — For the first time in the district’s history, the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District is allowing its groundwater to be used to fill and maintain a reservoir.

The district’s board of directors voted unanimously, at its monthly meeting Thursday, to grant changes to operating permits submitted by Elmwood Bradley Oaks, LP, allowing it to use groundwater to build a recreational surface lake.

Roy Rodgers, general manager of NTVGCD, said earlier in the week that allowing groundwater to be used for such a purpose would be a violation of both the Texas Water Code and the district’s own rules, but Thursday afternoon Rodgers said a compromise suitable for both parties had been reached.

“We are going to allow them to pump water into the lake, but they will have to put meters on the wells, report their pumping and pay for it. We also put a condition on the deal giving us the right to curtail the pumping if the district determines that it is in the public interest to do so,” Rodgers said. “We are okay with this compromise because it protects us by giving us the right to monitor and make changes as needed in the future, and because it lets us be a good neighbor by allowing them to build their lake.”

Thanks to their agreement with the district, EBO can now use its two agricultural wells, which tap into the Queen City Aquifer, to build a 55-acre pond on their land in northern Anderson County.

“If they ran those wells full-time, they could pump out about 160 acre-feet per year, but once they get it filled they won’t need to run them full-time,” Rodgers said. “Once the lake is built, it will just depend on the amount of rainfall they receive and the number of springs that they have to determine how much supplemental water is needed to keep it full.”

Should the district choose to end the agreement at some point in the future, it will give EBO written notice at least 10 days prior to the board of director’s meeting at which the curtailment will be considered.

Rodgers said the district had lodged a protest with the state to halt EBO’s lake permit. Now that an arrangement has been reached, he indicated that he would write a letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality removing the protest.

“This compromise allows them to have their lake, but still gives us flexibility for the future. If at some point we do groundwater studies and find that it is impacting the groundwater, then we will curtail it,” he said.

In other business the board approved:

• the minutes from previous meetings;

• the financial audit for Calendar Year 2007 as conducted by Hugh Goodpasture and

• paying the bills.

The NTV Groundwater Conservation District meets at 1:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at their offices at 212 S. Main St. in Jacksonville. The public is invited to attend all meetings.

     

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