Gonzales County Groundwater District Receives Comments to Draft Management Plan

The Board of Directors of the Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District heard comments from stakeholders at a meeting last Thursday. The sole purpose of the meeting was to receive and consider comments to the GCUWCD's proposed revisions to its Grounwater Management Plan.

Written and oral comments were presented at the meeting by representatives of the Canyon Regional Water Authority, the Shertz-Seguin Local Government Corp., the San Antonio Water System, the Gonzales County Water Supply Corporation, and the Water Protection Association.

San Antonio attorney Trey Wilson presented CRWA's comments, which related primarily to the District's present Carrizo Aquifer drawdown limit of 100 ft. CRWA also submitted comments concerning projections of local water demand, and the need for a County-wide Mitigation Agreement applicable to all producers within the GCUWCD's jurisdiction.

All Groundwater Conservation Districts in Texas are required to develop a groundwater management plan and submit it to the TWDB for approval. A groundwater management plan describes a given district's groundwater management goals. These goals must include providing the most efficient use of groundwater, controlling and preventing waste of groundwater, controlling and preventing subsidence, addressing conjunctive surface water management issues, addressing natural resource issues, addressing drought conditions, addressing conservation, groundwater recharge, and desired future aquifer conditions

A district is required to review and readopt its management plan with or without revisions, at least once every five years. It can, however, review its plan more frequently if necessary. The TWDB's executive administrator is charged with reviewing and approving a GCD's groundwater management plan as being administratively complete.