HAYS COUNTY, Texas -- It was standing room only Tuesday night as hundreds turned out to a meeting in Wimberley to voice concerns about a plan to pump billions of gallons of water from a nearby aquifer.
Houston-based company Electro Purification has begun laying the groundwork for pumping and selling water from the Trinity Aquifer, located in Hays County. The magnitude of the proposed operation has nearby residents worried the wells their homes rely on will dry up.
Much of Tuesday's meeting was tense but civil as presenters from both sides made their case. It was the first time EP representatives spoke at a public meeting this year, and the company's hydrologist told the crowd previous projects in Central Texas convinced him the project would work.
"EP is offering water from a source that we believe can be sustainability produced," he said. Wells providing water to nearby homes are recharged mostly by surface water, said the expert, but water that supplies the Trinity runs much deeper.
He said they're still studying how much they can pump but documents previously put it at more than billions of gallons a year, setting off fears that the area will go dry.
State Rep. Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs) hosted the meeting and said he has several potential legislative solutions in the works. One statewide solution, he said, would be to create 'buffer zones' around priority groundwater management areas.
"I've talked to all of my colleagues in the house and I've said 'if this isn't happening your district yet, it will,'" said Isaac.
He said he also intends to file two more bills next month, one to expand the boundaries of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) and the other to expand the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. Each proposal would incorporate the unregulated portion of the Trinity, which would then allow the district to possibly regulate the amount of pumping.
Isaac said he favors the well-funded BSEACD, but doesn't "want to put all my eggs in one basket."
The tensest moment of the meeting Thursday night came when Hays County Commissioner Will Conley took the stage to rebut claims by EP that he had been privy to their plans as early as 2011.
"The fact that you bring my name up means that we're getting to you," said Conley. He went on to say that the experiences of other municipalities can offer evidence of what kind of "corporate citizen" Electro Purification will become.
"There are other jurisdictions, they will tell you that they were lied to, that they're a fraud. We don't want you here. We want you to leave Hays County," he said to raucous applause.
Also in attendance at the meeting was Buda City Manager Kenneth Williams. Buda City Council recently approved a preliminary contract to purchase water from EP, citing a water shortage by 2017. He told the crowd they are looking at other options, including renewed conversations with the BSEACD.
"Buda is still at the table," said Williams. Consulting firm R.W. Hardin and Associates, retained on behalf of Buda, told the gathering their projections speculated EP's pumping could impact the water pressure of thirty to forty wells of comparable depth. City officials have said they will not move forward with the contract without a mitigation plan in place, should well owners be adversely impacted, though the specifics of the plan are not yet in place.
As for the impact of the pumping, everyone at the meeting agreed it is unknown.
BSEACD General Manager John Dupnik said they hope to produce a report by the end of 2015 with more concrete answers. He said EP had expressed a willingness to supply the conservation district with their research. Dupnik said the first step would be to conduct 'stress tests' on the aquifer by pumping water from the EP sights and then observing the impact on area wells.
Dupnik said right now, they're in the process of collecting records and inventorying area wells to be able to generate models to better predict the proposal's impact.
