TX Has Zero Regulation Of Groundwater; Now, Springs & Wells Across Hill Country Drying Up. Oops. [View all]

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Almost every other day, Charlie Flatten gets a call about another local water well gone dry. Last week, he tried to help one woman find a water truck to fill her home cistern. But all the hauling companies had suspended service amid a deepening shortage in Central Texas. “She’s got to go find somewhere else to live,” said Flatten, general manager of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District in Dripping Springs. “This is extremely serious.”

Here in the booming Hill Country southwest of Austin, Flatten said, the Trinity Aquifer is at its lowest level on record. Across the region, iconic natural springs are dwindling or drying up, victims of extreme heat, persistent drought and ever-growing demand for water. This May, Flatten’s district issued a moratorium on groundwater pumping for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, he said, a private company called Aqua Texas continues pumping millions more gallons than it is authorized to take. And there isn’t much he can do about it.

“Their business model does not benefit from conservation,” Flatten said of Aqua Texas, a subsidiary of Essential Utilities, an investor-owned utility with a $10.4 billion market capitalization. “Their business model benefits from selling water and their shareholders expect them to turn a profit every quarter.” Flatten sent Aqua Texas a $450,000 fine for pumping almost twice as much as its permit allowed last year, but the company hasn’t paid. Settlement negotiations continue, along with excessive pumping, Flatten said. “We have contested the over pumping fee with the groundwater district and are currently working closely with them to get that resolved,” said Aqua Texas spokesperson Jennifer Olohan.

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This situation highlights a critical weakness of aquifer management in Texas, according to Vanessa Puig-Williams, Texas water program director for the Environmental Defense Fund. Because groundwater is private property in Texas, most of the conservation districts that manage it have insufficient tools available to enforce conservation, she said. “We are asking our local groundwater conservation districts to do the impossible,” she said. “I think we’ve set ourselves up for a disaster and I think we’re starting to see it in Central Texas.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15082023/central-texas-dry-wells-water-shortage/