Water district to push for DFC approval
By MAT TAYLOR Special Correspondent

Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District directors at their recent meeting voted to request that Groundwater Management Area 8 officials call a special meeting to discuss approval of Desired Future Conditions data for the Trinity Aquifer.

At the December 2007 Groundwater Management Area 8 meeting, the 10-member committee adopted DFCs for five of the nine aquifers within its boundary. The remaining aquifers, however -- Trinity, Hickory, Ellenberger-San Saba and Marble Falls were developed but not adopted. Saratoga board chairman Dave Hamilton said the proposal to approve Desired Future Conditions for the Trinity fell two votes short of approval.

The GMA 8 committee decided to let the new member groundwater districts have more time to review their data before submission to the Texas Water Development Board.

"I commented at the meeting that the districts have had adequate time to develop their data," Hamilton said. "I have publicly stated that the Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District has made the necessary Groundwater Availability Model runs for Lampasas County, we have paid for the engineering cost and are satisfied with the results. In my opinion, we should not have to pay any more charges for additional data, especially for other water districts."

Commented at-large director Randall McGuire: "We hired the engineering company, and we received our GAM runs and DFCs for Lampasas County. We are not affected by other districts such as Table Rock, as their water is more affected by us."

Hamilton said to his knowledge, Table Rock Groundwater Conservation District (Coryell County) had not developed any data.

"We can't sit back and wait for those Johnny-come-lately districts to gather their data and then have them dictate to us when to do this. We have done with our part, and we should ask GMA 8 to take some kind of action."

The 79th Texas Legislature passed HB 1763 that requires groundwater conservation districts in the state to determine desired future conditions for the major and minor aquifers within the 16 Groundwater Management Areas created by earlier legislation. This mandate must be completed by Sept. 1, 2010, with updates every five years.

The method for the development of DFCs for the Trinity and other aquifers involved using the Texas Water Development Board's Groundwater Availability Models to simulate the projected effects that various pumping levels would have on the aquifer. The data indicates Lampasas County should have adequate groundwater for almost 50 years.

Directors expressed concerns that as the DFCs should have been provided to the TWDB by Jan. 1 of this year to guarantee inclusion in the next regional and state planning cycle, Lampasas County data would not be included.

Precinct 3 director Bob Wright said if GMA 8 would not consider the Saratoga district's request, at least it should allow Saratoga to submit its completed data for the Trinity Aquifer in Lampasas County.

In other business, Hamilton reviewed the latest Palmer Drought Severity Index. Despite below-average rainfall for the past few months, the index as of March 1 shows Lampasas County to be experiencing normal to slightly above-normal conditions.

In a final action, directors voted to develop a SUWCD Records Management Plan and Policy, as required by the state.

Wright was designated as records management officer. The plan will be considered for approval at the next directors' meeting. The policy will ensure that all records of the district are available to the public.

Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District directors will meet again on April 14 at 1:30 p.m. in the county courtroom.