As I talk to folks in Precinct 2, many have expressed concerns about development in Kerr County, especially in terms of water availability. I share those concerns.
As a petroleum engineer, I have a thorough understanding of geology and aquifers. I’ve met with Gene Williams, GM at Headwaters, Groundwater Conservation District (HGCD), to better understand water availability in our area and the basis for the current development guidelines. Gene informed me that data from 18 monitor wells across Kerr County indicate a trend of declining water levels and water availability in the Edwards – Trinity formations, which is a serious concern. So, HGCD is currently conducting a study of the aquifers supporting east Kerr County, which should be complete by January. I intend to follow up with Gene and review the study. In the meantime, I’m reviewing all of the available reports and studies on groundwater in Kerr County.
Water availability in the Hill Country is a very complicated issue. Across Kerr County, we all primarily draw groundwater from the Lower Trinity formation, but this aquifer extends well beyond Kerr County so, for example, usage in adjacent Kendall and Bandera Counties has an impact on our water availability. The City of Kerrville also has rights to draw surface water from the Upper Guadalupe River and treats waste water for use in non-potable irrigation and it operates two Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) wells to store excess available surface water in the Hosston formation of the Lower Trinity aquifer for recovery and use during drought conditions and to meet higher seasonal demands during the summer. But right now, for various reasons, Kerrville is primarily using groundwater rather than surface water.
In 2018 the City of Kerrville had a Long Range Water Supply Plan (LRWSP) prepared, which I have closely reviewed. My concern is that if we had severe drought conditions right now, we would already be facing a significant water shortfall, so we need to implement some of the report recommendations for additional water supply. Strategies identified in the LRWSP include additional conservation to reduce demands, amendments to water rights currently owned by Kerrville and acquisition of new water rights to improve the reliability of surface water supplies, and development of a local Ellenburger Aquifer well and development of a remote Ellenburger Aquifer well field in northeastern Kerr County. My fear is that the Ellenburger aquifer may not be as large as hoped. So, the ASR facility should be expanded so that more surface water from the Upper Guadalupe River can be put into storage for later recovery. But we really need a plan for the entire county, since we all draw groundwater from the same Lower Trinity aquifer.
Conservation will also be an important step, especially with new development in mind. Based on the results of the current HGCD study on the aquifers in east Kerr County, HGCD might look at revising its District Rules with respect to Tract Size Requirements and Subdividing, which currently allow “only one well may be drilled on each five-acre tract”. We may find that this should be changed to one well drilled on each ten-acre tract. Rainwater harvesting should be required for new high density developments on smaller tracts and encouraged for large acreage developments in the form of tax incentives. The Production Caps for Non-Exempt Wells and New Public Water Supply Systems currently allow production up to 80,000 gallons per year per Permit Acre. These production caps could be reduced to better manage our groundwater.
A positive development has already taken place. HGCD just revised their District Rules at their November 10th Board meeting, which I attended. They introduced a new “Livable Minimum Standard” (LMS) definition with respect to the amount of water used by a single domestic connection to a public water system. See the recently adopted HGCD District Rules for more details (District-Rules-Revised-November-10-2021.pdf (hgcd.org)). The new LMS applies to New Stand-alone Housing, Mobile Home Parks and RV Parks connected to a public water supply. This change will have a significant impact on new high-density developments such as the proposed Center Point Village which planned to install up to 166 single-family condos and 127 RV spaces on roughly 150 acres. While Aqua Texas may provide an assurance to deliver higher quantities of water to new developments, the new District Rules will take precedent and limit the number of single-family connections to a Public Water Supply system. This significantly reduced the number of allowable connections for the proposed Center Point Village and my understanding is that this project will no longer move ahead.
Any further changes to the HGCD District Rules or any requirement to harvest rainwater would then need to be taken up by the Commissioners Court with a modification to its 2007 Kerr County Subdivision Rules & Regulations.
As I said earlier, water availability in the Hill Country is a very complicated issue, so we need to get UGRA, HGCD, Kerrville and the County to work together to optimize our water usage and develop a comprehensive long-range plan for the entire county, then take action as soon as possible to ensure adequate water availability for everyone, before the next severe drought hits. I’m very good at bringing people together to find solutions and that is what is required to comprehensively address the water issue. I’ll do all I can to make this happen. It’s also time to start putting the needs of existing residents ahead of big out of town developers. You can count on me to do that too.
Note: The two most prolonged droughts on record in the Hill County occurred in 1947-1957 and, more recently, in 2006-2014. We’ve experienced quite a bit of growth since either of these droughts, so the impact of another prolonged drought will be all the more severe on everyone.