The Herald-Zeitung

Comal County officials said they’re hoping the third effort to protect the area’s water resources doesn’t strike out, as the state and county are again laboring to create a groundwater conservation district over the Trinity Aquifer.

Groundwater conservation districts were created by the state legislature to conserve and protect Texas water, particularly in areas where groundwater is scarce. But after county voters shot down two previous efforts to create such a district, the two-thirds of Comal County served by the Trinity Aquifer remain unprotected and unregulated.

“Every other county in the Hill Country from here to Victoria has a groundwater conservation district except Comal,” said Pct. 2 County Commissioner Jay Millikin. “The recent drought just highlights our need to know what’s going on in the Trinity, and we still don’t have a clue.”

A presentation in Thursday’s Commissioners Court meeting will focus on Canyon Lake Water Supply’s preference on the matter since it is one of Comal County’s largest water users over the Trinity Aquifer.

The meeting will begin at 8:15 a.m. at 199 Main Plaza.

Because of a long state-level administrative process, Millikin predicted the formation of a new district could take as long as a year-and-a-half, but said it would be well worth the wait.

“I think it’s one of the most important things we can do in Comal County,” he said.

The Comal County Needs Assessment, conducted by the United Way, cited the creation of a groundwater conservation district as one of the county’s top priorities, not only as a tool to help manage future growth, but also to protect against overuse.

Without a district to regulate the resource, the county falls under “rule of capture,” which means anyone with water on their land is allowed to pump as much as they please, and potentially could sell and distribute it outside of the county.

“And there’s nothing we could do about it,” said Comal County Judge Danny Scheel. “It’s like we’re sitting with a big target on our backs.”

County voters have twice soundly defeated the creation of a conservation district, first by a 10 to 1 margin in 1995, and again 2 to 1 in 2001.

But even though it’s been shot down at the polls, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality can step in to force its creation because of the scant water resources in Comal County.

The county is in a “priority groundwater management area,” a place that the state considers to already have serious groundwater problems or predicts will have them in the future, according to TCEQ. A recent study drafted by TCEQ is suggesting that the county join with either Hays and Travis counties to form a groundwater conservation district, or be absorbed into a district in northern Bexar County.