Travis County Commissioners Court
March 2, 2010,
Item 2
>> ms.
porter, did we vote on that, those consent items.
okay, number 2 is to consider and take appropriate action on proclamation acknowledging national groundwater wear information week from March 7-132010--7-13, 2010.
Commissioners Eckhardt and hupeHuber.
>> the groundwater awareness week came to my attention only a week or two ago through the good offices of Commissioner Huber and one of my staff.
and so Commissioner Huber, would you like to say a few words and then we will kick it over to tom weber to tell us the importance of groundwater and I'll read the proclamation.
>> groundwater is extraordinarily wore here in central Texas.
actually think the future of our growth in this area is no no small part dependent upon groundwater.
i think it is extremely significant that this is groundwater awareness week and I encourage everyone to , whether you are on surface water or groundwater, to pay attention to the importance of it to our community as a whole.
it's something a lot of people don't know much about.
it's underground.
can't see it.
but it is critical to our future.
i just encourage everyone to learn more about it.
>> there's been some very good coverage in the Austin american statesman recently about the importance of ground water to our overall economic security and enhancement for the entire region.
tom weber?
>> for the record, tom weber with tnr environmental quality program.
it is Texas independence day but texans and central texans are dependent on groundwater.
so I think it goes without saying that we're going to need all the groundwater, all the usable groundwater that we can pump and still maintain sustainable levels for generations to come.
that is going to be a very tricky proposition for texans.
i'd like to focus very briefly on even though groundwater is unseen and it's sometimes thought of commonly as being independent, it is not.
it's very dependent upon what goes on on the surface.
we recognize this from the drought last year, when we start draining the aquifers, whether edwards, trinity or the colorado river aluvium, they all are dependent upon the flow of water and the streams that feed these acquifers and waterfalling on the recharge areas.
and when the waterfalls on these areas, it does pick up contaminants that might be on the land, whether fertilizers or herb sides and pesticides used or if a well is improperly cased or sealed at the surface, these are all conduits for pollutants to reach the groundwater and can threaten its quality and usability.
it's important that we be mindful of what goes on at the surface to protect our supplies.
just one final point, our own cable channel 17 is broadcasting videos that, beginning on March 3-8, various times, there's a video called Texas, the state of water, presented by Texas parks and wildlife, and looks at the water resources of our state and kind of the challenges ahead and demands.
we have kind of worked with channel 17 to get a series of water related broadcasts on the air as a part of our stormwater management program because we do have a need for public education of citizens on the water issues we face and what they can do to help preserve its quality.
>> is all of that going to come afterwards on how to handle water, conserve water better?
i know right now, it will be soon enough, and you will see water running down curbs.
it really bothers me to seen that happen.
are we going to get to the education process pretty soon after this?
>> think we do have to make a concerted effort to reach out to the water providers and come up with ways to establish fee structures as well as other incentives to both educate and disuade people from water waste.
>> conservation plan.
>> particularly in the ccn's in the eastern Travis County area.
there have been discussions about fee schedules and incentives in the ccn providers as well.
>> perhaps changing to plants that don't require as much water in this area.
>> yes.
>> all that water just runs down the curbs.
i have seen it watering asphalt.
>> if the citizen looks for the information, they can find it.
water conservation.
agra life extension service is one really good source for xero escaping and water.
there's a green grow program, think that might be sponsored by the city of Austin, maybe some other partners.
there's a wealth of information out there on water conservation.
it definitely is critical because we are going to need to cut back our per capita use of water.
>> absolutely.
yeah.
>> mr.
priest.
>> thank you, judge.
i talked to some people at the capital and there are some lawmakers addressing this issue.
of course there was a recent article in the statesman.
however, there are legal requirements in the community also working on this issue.
most of them agree that development impact fees should be a large part in addressing this issue as well as the fact that when we looked at the comments made during the environmental board meeting on 17th of February, they did discuss these issues that so many of the people brought up during this txi matter, when water is on the surface whether by artificial means, excavation or natural means, hurricane, whatever, that these issues, there seems to be a conflict among many Austin water attorneys.
it's actually been, auce --as you know, most law has to deal with language.
and there are water attorneys now addressing this issue that when we are dealing with water on the surface, that there's a belief that the county as well as the city does have some legal grounds to address certain issues that I don't think were adequately addressed this last go around on the txi matter.
i just wanted to say that this is a good thing.
i did talk to parks and wide life, fema, army corps of engineers, and the interior department, many organizations and each and every one of them said the same thing time and time again, our greatest resource is the people of this great state of Texas that bring these issues to the forefront.
i think that recently, I just was appalled by not only txi behavior but Commissioners court and the city as well but I do think there are some people at the city coming around and I would hope that y'all would review that item on the agenda.
item 4 b on the 17th on the environmental board.
look at some of the comments that were made.
thank you.
>> thank you, mr.
priest.
is there a motion?
>> shall we read the proclamation.
>> why don't do you that.
>> yes, sir.
>> we're posted for the proclamation.
we're doing a whole lot of other stuff.
we are posted for a proclamation.
go ahead.
that wasn't directed to you.
to the whole group.
>> I understand.
thank you, judge.
because I think it is significant, I want to applaud Commissioner Eckhardt and also Commissioner Huber for bringing this item up.
as you notice, it has, since this is groundwater conservation week, I just wanted to make sure that the folks in the community understand how Travis County has really been struggling with groundwater issues here.
of course, tom and his staff worked really diligently over the drought situation because at that time we knew at that point that we were in a predicament.
and being in that predicament k we even started again.
again, I say again, looking at the possibility of creating a conservation district.
of course, we had a bunch of other things in place.
but it was in the emergency of trying to get the ccn's out there together with the public in eastern Travis County to come together to look at this creation of such a groundwater conservation district, which is very critical because we can have all of the attributes of looking at groundwater, but if we do not protect the groundwater, in other words, by creating a district, that means the rule of capture can come into place.
under the rule of capture, that means anybody in the world can come and pop water right from under your feet, even if you are on the property.
doesn't matter.
they can pump the water out.
you have no future protection unless you have a district.
so water is very key in this community and it's going to be worth its weight in gold, as it probably already is.
until you are able to protect the resource by creating a district that will get away from the rule of capital, which again is a way of pumping water out of an aquifer and it can go anywhere else in the state or across state line, but the possibility of that happening is steal --still real unless you create a district to protect that undergroundwater for distribution.
thank you.
>> I will try read fast.
whereas Travis County is underlaying by significant groundwater that supplies up to 17,000 feet of water to our citizens farms and industries, whereas groundwater emerges from the earth as world renouned springs and water courses that nourish life and provide critical habitat to biological communities that support endangered species, whereas these include the norn springs, the trinity group and the colorado river, whereas the recharge of water into these areas are almost completely dependent upon rain fall and the flow of surface water and streams that pass over surface outcrops of these aqufers, whereas groundwater availability in Travis County is vulnerable to overpumping due to continuing population growth and the occurrence of drought conditions whereas southwestern Travis County has been formerly designated by the state as a priority groundwater management area because the area experiences critical groundwater problems including shortages of supply, whereas groundwater quality in Travis County is threatened by pollutant discharge of urban stormwater and wastewater that have a high potential to seep and recharge into our aquifers, whereas additional conservation and less use of groundwater are essential strategies that need to be implementd to preserve and sustain the limited groundwater resources in Travis County, whereas all citizens should become more aware of the limits of our groundwater resources, how to save water, and ways to protect its quality, and whereas organizations throughout the united states are recognizing March 7-13, 2010, as national groundwater awareness week, therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court does here by proclaim March 7-13, 2010, to be Travis County groundwater awareness week.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> dismugs all in favorment that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you very much.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 2:53 PM
