Wimberley City-Wide Clean Up Saturday May 19th

Summer has arrived and so has the time for a city-wide cleanup day in Wimberley. Residents are invited to get a jump start on their fall cleaning by taking part in the event on Saturday, May 19^th.

“This is a great opportunity for Wimberley residents to drop off those unwanted bulky items that normally would not get picked up at the curb by the City’s garbage contractor,” said Wimberley Mayor Bob Flocke. “This free solid waste collection event is being provided for ONLY those who 

receive City garbage service.” (Please note!)

 

The upcoming collection event is one in a series of bulky waste collection events that the City of Wimberley and Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) sponsors within the year that provides residents with the opportunity to get rid of unwanted bulky items. From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., crews, a dumpster and garbage truck will be stationed at the Lions Field Parking Lot in the 700 block of FM 2325 to collect items.

 

To take part in this event, you must be a resident of the City of Wimberley and a current customer of TDS. Participants must bring a copy of their most recent TDS bill along with a picture ID as proof of residency to obtain free access to the disposal site.

 

“Residents are asked to cover loads with a tarp when transporting items to the collection site in pick-up trucks and trailers,” said Flocke. “This is a great opportunity for residents to do their part to help keep Wimberley beautiful.”

Couches, mattresses, appliances, and other bulky items, including limited quantities of brush will be accepted at the collection site.

 

Household batteries, chemicals, empty drums, fluorescent light bulbs, paints, pesticides, thermostats, solvents/gasoline and other hazardous wastes and tires will not be accepted. All refrigerants must be removed from refrigerators and air conditioning units and must have attached certificates of evacuation before those appliances will be accepted at the collection site. 

For more information on the collection, call the City of Wimberley at 512.847.0025 or visit the City’s web site at www.cityofwimberley.com 

Groundwater for Texans – Texas Water Symposium, May 17 in San Antonio

Don’t miss the final session of this season to be held at Trinity University in San Antonio. Our distinguished panel will discuss the recent ruling by the Texas Supreme Court on the highly publicized Day v. EAA case regarding ownership of groundwater. The program will explore the effects on a variety of stakeholders and a look at our complex water policy framework in Texas. A mix of viewpoints will be presented and discussed.

This presentation is part of the 2011-2012 Texas Water Symposium Series, a format known for creating balanced conversations about complex water issues — who owns the groundwater, how will it be managed, and at what price? The Symposium is your invitation to listen and learn as part of the live audience or from the radio broadcast. This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, May 17, 2012; 7 p.m.
Stieren Theater at Trinity University, 1 Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX. Directions

Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune moderates this Texas Water Symposium between a panel of participants who represent a who’s who in current Texas water policy and analysis:

1. • Andy Sansom, Executive Director of the River Systems Institute at TSU
   
2. • Greg Ellis, attorney specializing in groundwater law
   
3. • Tom Mason of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody and former General Manager at LCRA
   
4. • Russell Johnson, McGinnis, Lochridge and Kilgore and lead counsel for the Texas Wildlife Association.

Evan Smith

The annual Texas Water Symposium series is co-sponsored in a unique partnership between Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas Tech University, Texas Public Radio and the Hill Country Alliance. This final session of the season, we are excited to add our host for this special program, Trinity University to our partnership. 

All of the water forums are taped and aired on Texas Public Radio one week following the taping. Thursday’s forum will air on KTXI 90.1 FM Kerrville/Fredericksburg on Friday, June 1 at 7pm and on KSTX 89.1 FM San Antonio Sunday, June 3 at 8pm. Previous programs on timely water issues that have been recorded over the past five years are archived in the Newsmaker Hour section of the Texas Public Radio website. 

“One of our core objectives is to create an informed and engaged citizenry so that regional decisions reflect the desires of the Hill Country community to protect water supply, water quality, heritage ranch lands and the unique quality of life found in Central Texas.” said Sky Lewey, President of the Hill Country Alliance. “The Texas Water Symposium is one of our best ways educate Texans about our most precious natural resource – water.”

Download our Texas Water Symposium 2011-2012 flyer here.

More about our panelists:

Russell S. Johnson focuses his practice on environmental and water law, including representation of public utilities, municipalities, and businesses in all forms of litigation and regulatory matters. He has a strong background in advocating and negotiating for clients before legislative bodies, administrative agencies, and both state and federal courts in the water law area. He is a Board Member, Texas Tech University School of Law Center for Water Law and Policy. Mr. Johnson is recognized throughout the State of Texas as a leading expert, presenter and spokesman on water law and related issues. Russ was extensively involved in legislative efforts to create the Edwards Aquifer Authority, modernize Texas water with Senate Bill 1 (1997) and Senate Bill 2 (2001) and subsequent legislation related to groundwater management. He continues these efforts at each legislative session. He represents clients in all manner of water rights issues, including conveyance and regulatory compliance. He strives to keep property rights and ownership preserved and protected. He is currently partner with McGinnis, Lochridge and Kilgore, LLP, Austin, Texas.

Evan Smith is the Editor in Chief and CEO of The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, non-partisan digital news organization based in Austin. The Tribune's deep coverage of Texas politics and public policy can found at its website, texastribune.org; in the pages of the New York Times; and in newspapers and on TV and radio stations across the state. In not quite two years in operation, the Tribune has won two Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, a general excellence award from the Online News Association and a Knight-Batten award for innovations in journalism. Before co-founding the Tribune, Evan spent nearly 18 years at Texas Monthly, including eight years as Editor and a year as President and Editor in Chief. On his watch, Texas Monthly twice won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

Andrew Sansom is one of Texas’ leading conservationists. He is a former executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, executive director of the Texas Nature Conservancy, and founder of The Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas. Mr. Sansom also is a past recipient of the Chevron Conservation Award, The Chuck Yeager Award from the National Fish and Wildlife oundation, The Pugsley Medal from the National Park Foundation, and the Seton Award from the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas Tech University and Austin College. Mr. Sansom, a native of Brazoria County, has dedicated his life to environmental conservation. His published works have appeared in Texas Monthly, The Texas Observer, Houston City Magazine, Politics Today, Texas Highways, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and Texas Town & City. His first book, Texas Lost, was photographed by Wyman Meinzer and published in November 1995. His most recent book is Texas Past, photographed by Wyman Meinzer and published in November 1997. Andrew Sansom now serves as Executive Director of the River Systems Institute and Research Professor of Geography at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Tom Mason is currently of counsel to the Austin-based law firm Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody. Mr. Mason has over 30 years experience with water and environmental issues through his work in private legal practice and service at state and regional agencies. From 2007 to 2011 he served as general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority, a regional agency with responsibility for managing the Highland Lakes and providing water, energy, and community services to a large part of Central Texas. Mr. Mason served as general counsel to LCRA for nine years before being named general manager. Before joining LCRA, Mr. Mason held positions as director of water quality at the Texas Water Commission and assistant general counsel for the Texas Department of Water Resources (predecessor agencies of the current Texas Commission on Environmental Quality). He also was a partner in a law firm with a statewide practice in environmental and administrative law. Mr. Mason graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1980, and holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated magna cum laude in 1975. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Water Laws Committee of the Texas Water Conservation Association, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Advisory Council, the Texas Advisory Board of the Environmental Defense Fund, the Austin Area Research Organization, and was recently invited to join the board of the Texas Water Foundation.

Gregory M. Ellis is currently in a solo law practice and has a long history in water law and water issues. While still in law school in the mid-eighties, he helped clerk the House Natural Resources Committee and worked on a variety of water legislation. After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law he worked as legislative liaison for the Texas Water Commission. In 1992 Ellis moved to Houston to serve as General Counsel to the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District. From 1997 to 2004 Ellis was the General Manager of the Edwards Aquifer Authority, after which he opened his law practice concentrating on representing groundwater conservation district clients across the State. Ellis also serves as General Counsel to the Texas Water Foundation, a non-profit corporation that provides water conservation education. Ellis is well versed in groundwater law, groundwater conservation districts, general government and administrative procedures.

Public Meeting for Jacob’s Well Natural Area Master Plan

The second public meeting for the Jacob’s Well Master Plan has been set for Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Road 12.   Meeting notice is available here.
County officials and parks planning consultant RVi of Austin will present the draft of the site plan, which includes input from attendees at the initial public meeting held in January as well as from a stakeholder group appointed by the Hays County Commissioners Court and other groups interested in the future of the Natural Area.
“We are nearing completion of the master plan, which will allow the Jacob’s Well Natural Area to offer passive recreational opportunities as well as educational elements to help visitors understand the importance of water and other natural resources in our region,” said Jeff Hauff, Grants Administrator for Hays County. “The design team of RVi has coordinated this intensive planning effort and has considered the opportunities and constraints of the property along with ideas proposed from the public and various groups.”
More information about the Jacob’s Well Natural Area planning process is available at www.co.hays.tx.us/jacobswell.

TWDB Votes for Increased Groundwater Pumping for Hill Country

Jacob’s Well Special Groundwater Management Area Proposed

By Susan Marx

 

The March 1^st board meeting of the Texas Water Development Board in Austin drew a large crowd at the Stephen F. Austin building downtown. Many came to speak in opposition to the 30 ft. decline or so called Desire Future Condition(DFC) of the Trinity Aquifer in Western Hays County and to support the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association’s request for developing a ‘Special Groundwater Management Area” (SGMA) for Jacob’s Well and the Wimberley Valley. 

 

WVWA’s Executive Director David Baker had 10 minutes to make the final appeal to the board to advocate for a policy of sustainable management of the Trinity Aquifer.  Since the TWDB staff recommended the board find the DFC “reasonable” in its Jan. 25 report, Baker used his time to ask the board to recommend a SGMA or groundwater management zone for Jacob’s Well. He said, “The flow of that spring is vital to the economic future and survival of the Wimberley Valley. By recommending a SGMA the TWDB can save Jacob’s Well which is in danger of becoming a memory and drying up, like Comanche Springs in Fort Stockton.”

 

TWDB’s lead counsel Joe Reynolds conducted the DFC hearing in Wimberley last November and was one of the key staff members addressing the board on Thursday. Reynolds said creating a SGMA was not on the agenda and advised the board not to make any recommendation on it. Reynolds also said the local groundwater districts already have the authority to create SGMAs. It’s up to the Hays-Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) to manage Wimberley’s water.

 

Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District general manager and GMA-9 Coordinator Ron Feisler said, “GMA-9 is willing to have discussions to consider a SGMA in Wimberley.” However, he added that the GMA’s focus is regional and a SGMA is something to be handled at the local level, with the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. He also said, “I see no way the TWDB can make a recommendation for a SGMA for Wimberley today.”

 

Larry French, Director of Groundwater for the TWDB, agreed with Reynolds. When the board asked if the DFC threatens Wimberley, French said the 19 ft. drawdown expected to occur in western Hays County “could” negatively impact Jacob’s Well. The board then asked French if Jacob’s Well had gone “dry” before and French said yes but argued that the 30 ft. DFC allows for what’s already on the ground and provides a margin for growth in the area.

 

Baker reserved a few minutes of his time for rebuttal and used it to explain that Jacob’s Well had stopped flowing for the first time in history in June of 2000.It withstood and continued to flow even during the “Drought of Record” in the1950s. The well has since ceased to flow two more times; in 2009 and 2011. Baker said, “Aqua Texas’ pumping, a proposed new golf course and an intense growing demand from development has significantly lowered water levels. Just two feet of aquifer draw down will stop Jacob’s Well and Cypress Creek from flowing.”Baker pleaded with the board to provide leadership to protect the property rights and the economy of Wimberley by finding the 30 ft DFC “unreasonable” or to at least take the “minimal but necessary action” of recommending a SGMA for Wimberley.

 

While the TWDB position on the issue was expected, it was disappointing to the WVWA supporters, especially in light of the monthly drought report which immediately preceded WVWA’s testimony. In that report, TWDB staff hydrologist Mark Wentzel said,“January 2012 set the lowest reservoir storage record since 1978. The levels in16 of 17 wells are down from last year.” NOAA’s prediction for rainfall isn’t good either. The weakening “La Nina” is expected to persist until at least May.There is hope for more rainfall then but the western portion of the state remains in extreme drought and is likely to remain that way.

 

Public comments were limited to three minutes per speaker. HTGCD board member Ed Pope spoke in support of creating a SGMA for Wimberley that is tied to spring flow. “A special groundwater management area is an innovative approach,” Pope said.Wimberley’s Mayor Pro-tem Steve Thurber said the city had adopted a resolution in support of a SGMA and read that resolution into the record. Hays County Pct.3 Commissioner Will Conley said, “The groundwater in our area is strained. It’s going to take innovative and collaborative approaches and many tools to manage it.”

 

Conley also said that Hays County has invested $7 million in the Blue Hole Regional Park and Jacob’s Well. He added that Hays County is not just one of the fastest growing counties in Texas, it’s one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. “We need resources to manage groundwater,” he said and asked that a SGMA for Wimberley be placed on a future agenda.

 

Testimony in favor of creating a SGMA for Wimberley continued for an hour and included residents of Wimberley, Bandera, Spicewood Springs and San Marcos. HTGCD President Jimmy Skipton and its treasurer Mark Key both said they were happy to consider a SGMA for Wimberley but that most of the pumping comes from exempt wells and they can’t stop it.  Others argued,however, that because most of the water use in Wimberley is from exempt wells that’s all the more reason to have a more conservative DFC in the Jacob’s Well recharge area.

 

Save Our Springs Alliance Chairman Dick Kallerman said, “During drought the Blanco River recharges Barton Springs. If the springs along the river are allowed to go dry, it will significantly impact Barton Springs.” Kallerman called the 30ft DFC “risky” and asked the board not to approve it. Kirk Holland, General Manager of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Groundwater Conservation District,suggested that GMA-9 consider establishing management zones within its boundaries to address special hydrologic conditions like Wimberley.

 

The TWDB announced that what they decide is a recommendation only. They do not have the authority to enforce it. The board asked counsel what is authorized understate law and who is responsible. Ken Petersen, general counsel for the TWDB,said management is a choice of the GCDs and that creating a SGMA is a rule making process done by the local district.

 

Board member Thomas Weir Labatt encouraged citizens to work with the HTGCD to begin the SGMA process at the local level. This raised some laughter from the crowd.Unfortunately, Labatt continued, “There is no protection for groundwater at the state level.” He said he believes the legislature needs to look at a process for appeals for cases like Jacob’s Well. “Water is a finite resource with a growing population.”

 

TWDB board member Lewis McMahan applauded the stakeholders for speaking out and working to create a SGMA. He then made a motion to approve the DFC as“reasonable” the motion was seconded and the board voted unanimously to approve it with no recommendation for a SGMA in Wimberley. 

 

For now, the future of Jacob’s Well and the drinking water supply of our region depends largely on how our locally elected Groundwater Conservation District manages the aquifer.  But it is also a call to action for individual well owners to use their water wisely. The TWDB vote marks the end of a seven-year planning process to establish a Desired Future Condition for aquifers in GMA-9, a process that will be up for review again in 2015.