North Plains Groundwater Conservation District Election is Scheduled for May 10
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District’s (District) Board of Directors has approved an election order for Directors of three full terms and one unexpired term to be held on May 10, 2008. Four seats on the District’s Board – representing precincts 1, 5, 6, and 7, are scheduled to be on the ballot in May’s election. All but one of the positions, Precinct 1, are for full, four-year terms. The Precinct 1 seat became vacant last year when Tom Mellema resigned the position, leaving open the remainder of his term, which expires May 2010. The District’s Board appointed Brian Bezner to fill the unexpired position.
The Director precincts scheduled for this election are as follows:
- Director Precinct No. 1 is all the area within the District and within Dallam County. Brian Bezner is currently serving as Director.
- Director Precinct No. 5 is all the area within the District and within Hansford and Hutchinson Counties. Bob Zimmer is currently serving as Director.
- Director Precinct No. 6 is all of Ochiltree County. Daniel Krienke is currently serving as Director.
- Director Precinct No. 7 is all the area within the District and within Lipscomb County. Gene Born is currently serving as Director.
Persons interested in running for an elected position on the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District (District) Board of Directors have until 5 p.m. on March 10 to file an application for candidacy. Anyone interested can request an application for a place on the May 10th ballot in person at District headquarters or by mail to the attention of Steven Walthour, General Manager, North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, 603 East 1st Street, P.O. Box 795, Dumas, Texas 79029. The eligibility requirements to be a candidate are the same as for other locally elected positions (city commission or school board).
The District, under the authority of Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code, regulates water well spacing and production and is governed by a 7-member board of directors elected by popular vote from single member precincts. The purpose of the District is to provide for the conservation, preservation, protection, recharging, and prevention of waste of the groundwater consistent with the objectives of the Texas Constitution.
Anyone interested in obtaining more information about the election, about the District, or about the District’s Board of Directors may contact the District office at 806-935-6401 or may e-mail to artho@npwd.org.
| Free Water Wise Gardening & Drip Irrigation Class Offered
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District (NPGCD) is offering the fourth annual Water Wise Gardening class on March 29, 2008 at the District offices in Dumas. The class, taught by the Potter/Randall Master Gardeners, presents attendees with information on the principles of xeriscape, or using drought tolerant plants to create a lush and beautiful landscape suited to our dry climate. Also presented will be information on how to install a home drip irrigation system to allow home owners to water their landscape more efficiently and with less work.
The importance of water conservation continues to increase in the Panhandle, and learning more about how to have an attractive home landscape that uses less water and requires less maintenance is a topic that many home owners find very helpful.
When people hear the word xeriscape, what often comes to mind is gravel lawns with a few spotty plantings of cacti and succulents, but that is not at all the case. There are many beautifully flowering perennials that are adapted to a dryer environment, as well as decorative grasses and shrubs, and class participants will learn more about many of them. Participants will leave with many printed resources that they can make use of at home, as well as a list of websites where they can learn more.
The drip irrigation portion of the class will include pictures and information on how to install a drip irrigation system for both the landscape and potted plants such as might be used on a patio. The system is simple to install, and can provide the home owner with water savings, as well as less time spent watering during the hot summer months.
The class will be held at the NPGCD offices at 603 East 1st Street in Dumas on March 29 from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM. Anyone interested in attending can contact Rhonda Artho at 806-935-6401 or e-mail to artho@npwd.org to sign up. |
Groundwater Regulation in Texas: What Does the Future Hold?
Below is an article that is intended to be the first in a series put out by North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, informing residents of the District about the current issues surrounding groundwater conservation in the state and the District, state water law, and the rules of the District. We feel that the series would be very informative to the people of the Panhandle, and hope that you will allow us to provide this informational series of articles through your newspaper.
Sincerely,
Rhonda Artho
Education & Public Relations Coordinator / Project WET Texas State Coordinator
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District
P.O. Box 795, 603 East 1st Street
Dumas, TX 79029
806-935-6401, Fax 806-935-6633
artho@npwd.org
Historically, water producers in the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District could pump as much water from the Ogallala aquifer as they could lift to the surface and beneficially use. Today most water producers in the District realize that the Ogallala aquifer upon which we depend is a dwindling resource experiencing increased demands while its water levels generally continue to decline. Over the past few years the District has enacted rules in addition to well spacing requirements to slow the decline of water levels in the aquifer.
The question most frequently asked the District is “Who gave the District the authority to regulate my groundwater usage?” The answer is that the Texas State Legislature, in 1949, established locally controlled groundwater conservation districts as the primary means of managing groundwater for the state of Texas. The Legislature recognized that enabling local control of groundwater resources is more practical in a state as large as Texas with widely varying groundwater conditions and use.
In 1955, a confirmation election was held in the upper Texas Panhandle, and the vote to create the District dedicated to protect and conserve groundwater resources was affirmed. Sherman County, Hansford County, Ochiltree County, and the area north of the Canadian River in Hartley County, Moore County, and Hutchinson County comprised the original area of the District. In 1973 the people of Lipscomb County voted to annex into the District and in 1993 and 2004 portions of Dallam County were annexed into the District.
Today, groundwater conservation districts are the state’s preferred method of groundwater management through rules developed, adopted, and promulgated by a district in accordance with Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code. The District may invoke any state authorized power necessary to conserve, preserve, protect, and prevent waste of groundwater from the Ogallala aquifer. To manage the aquifer, the District must develop and adopt a comprehensive management plan for efficiently using groundwater and to prevent waste. To implement the management plan, the District must adopt rules as necessary, requiring permits for drilling, equipping, completing, or substantially altering the size of water wells; and limiting the amount of water that can be produced to mitigate the declines in the aquifer. To obtain compliance with its rules, the District may set reasonable civil penalties or may file a lawsuit.
The locally elected District Board of Directors considers observed declines in the water levels within the Ogallala aquifer as well as considers current needs and use of the water by producers as it designs management strategies that will preserve this unique resource for the future. Planning management and regulatory strategies to protect and preserve the aquifer is a formidable task to ensure that the citizens of the District maintain local control.
Senate Bill 2, which was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2001, significantly amended groundwater law in Texas, in that it acknowledged the “rule of capture”, but also stated that this doctrine may be limited or altered by rules promulgated by groundwater conservation districts, and reinforced that groundwater conservation districts remain the preferred method of groundwater management in Texas. In the next article of this series, more information will be presented on recent legislation concerning groundwater management in the state and the possible ramifications for the future. Anyone with questions or wanting more information regarding North Plains Groundwater Conservation District or Groundwater Conservation Districts in Texas can contact the NPWD office at 806-935-6401 or 1-800-456-3026, or may e-mail Rhonda Artho at artho@npwd.org.
Groundwater Management in Texas: What Does the Future Hold?
Below is the second article from North Plains Groundwater Conservation District on groundwater regulation in Texas. We hope you will continue to run these for us as we work to educate the public about their groundwater resources.
Thanks,
Rhonda Artho
Education & Public Relations Coordinator
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District
P.O. Box 795, 603 East 1st Street
Dumas, TX 79029
806-935-6401, Fax 806-935-6633
artho@npwd.org
The issue of efficient management of Texas’ groundwater resources will continue to be in the forefront of policy discussion in the Texas Legislature for the coming years. The state’s population will likely double between the years 2000 and 2050 to 40 million residents, and water supplies from existing groundwater sources are expected to decrease 19 percent over the same period.
Demands for groundwater from the Ogallala aquifer continue to increase within the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District as well. Those increased demands have caused increased declines in the Ogallala aquifer’s water supply. Since the 1960’s, the District has indirectly measured the water volume declines of the Ogallala aquifer by measuring the declines in the aquifer’s water table and calculating the aquifer’s saturated thickness. Saturated thickness is simply the vertical distance between the top of the Ogallala aquifer’s water table and the base of the aquifer, where the pores between the sand and gravel are completely filled with water. The saturated thickness varies significantly within each county of the District ranging from less than 25 feet to over 425 feet. In 2004, the average saturated thickness calculated to be between 170 and 175 feet.
In recent years, the Ogallala’s saturated thickness has experienced increased decline rates in areas across the District where pumping continues to increase. These areas are anticipated to continue declining as demand for groundwater continues to increase within them. Parts of Dallam and Hartley counties have seen and may continue to see declines each year of up to 8 or 8 ½ feet in the saturated thickness of the aquifer in some areas. Sherman and Moore counties yearly see declines of up to 5 or 5 ½ feet in some areas as well. Hansford and Hutchinson Counties have shown yearly declines of up to 3 ½ to 4 feet, and Ochiltree and Lipscomb annually see declines in some areas of 1 ½ to 2 feet. These yearly declines only reinforce the need for good management policies, both at the local and state levels.
Also notable are Texas Water Development Board figures which show the change in groundwater use within the District from the years 1980-2003. During these years, Moore County showed a two percent increase in the amount of groundwater annually pumped, while Sherman and Dallam Counties showed increases of 15% and 21% respectively. Hartley County showed a 102% increase in the amount of groundwater pumped over that same period.
Hutchinson County showed a 46% decrease in pumping, Ochiltree County a 44% decrease, Hansford County a 26% decrease, and Lipscomb County a 21% decrease in pumping in the same 23 years.
With the continued growth within the state and the continued increase in demand for water, Texans can continue to expect to see a focus on water issues and water conservation into the future. During the last decade, this focus on the state’s limited water resources resulted in the enactment of two bills that established a new process by which the state would plan and manage its groundwater and surface water resources for the future.
Senate Bill 1, enacted in 1997, resulted in the creation of a statewide water plan, which was designed by sixteen regional water planning authorities and was released in 2002. The plan dictates that by 2050, water consumption from all sources in the state can increase only 15 percent over the current annual level of 16.9 million acre-feet to approximately 20 million acre-feet. The Texas Water Development Board estimates that one-half of the volume of water available for use in the state is groundwater, which makes the regulation of groundwater resources one of the most challenging aspects of the state’s approach to water policy.
Much of the controversy surrounding groundwater regulation in Texas is due to the state’s use of the “rule of capture” doctrine, which specifies that groundwater in Texas is a privately owned resource. This doctrine, also known as “the law of the biggest pump” states that groundwater is controlled by the owner of the land that overlies the water, theoretically allowing the owner to pump an unlimited amount of groundwater. While the Legislature hasn’t modified or replaced the doctrine, it has used other methods to manage policy issues related to groundwater which promote local groundwater conservation districts managing groundwater pumping through decentralized, district-level rules and procedures. Since the enactment of SB1 in 1997, dozens of new groundwater districts have been established to manage groundwater resources, and by 2000, approximately 9 million of the 10 million acre-feet of total groundwater used in the state was pumped from areas managed by groundwater conservation districts. Only within the groundwater conservation districts do limitations on the rule of capture exist, and these limitations are set by local decisions based on regional preferences, geologic limitations and the needs of citizens.
House Bill 1763, which was enacted during the 79th Legislative session, also instituted several changes that affect the planning and management of the District as well as other groundwater conservation districts in the state. The bill requires the District to base its groundwater management plan on desired future groundwater conditions established through joint planning with other districts in its groundwater management areas (GMAs). The next article in this series will focus on GMAs and the goals being set by GMA1, in which North Plains Groundwater Conservation District is a member.
Groundwater Management in Texas - Groundwater Management Areas Address Groundwater Issues on a Regional Scale
Below is the third article in the series on Groundwater Conservation Districts and Texas Water Law in our series. We would appreciate it if you could run it in your publication for us.
Rhonda Artho
Education & Public Relations Coordinator
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District
P.O. Box 795, 603 East 1st Street
Dumas, TX 79029
806-935-6401, Fax 806-935-6633
artho@npwd.org
On September 1, 2005, House Bill 1763, passed by the 79th Texas Legislature, became effective. This bill, among other things, profoundly changed how groundwater availability is determined in Texas. Groundwater availability, or the amount of groundwater available for use, will affect where many Texans will be getting their water in the future, and the heated debate over groundwater availability and management is likely to continue far into the future.
Some of the more important changes legislated in House Bill 1763 include: 1) regionalizing decisions on groundwater availability, 2) requiring regional water planning groups to use groundwater availability numbers from the groundwater conservation districts, and 3) defining a permitting target for groundwater production. These changes affect both the rules and management plans of the state’s groundwater conservation districts, as they must now begin to work with other groundwater conservation districts that share their groundwater resources to reach common goals for the future in a “groundwater management area.”
Groundwater management areas (GMAs), which are now an important part of the management process for groundwater management planning, are really nothing new in Texas. They have, in fact, been around more than 50 years, but up until September 2001, their primary purpose was the creation of groundwater conservation districts by petition. A groundwater management area is defined as “an area suitable for the management of groundwater resources”. After the passage of HB 1763, the primary purpose of groundwater management areas has been joint planning.
As part of Senate Bill 2, which was passed in 2001, the Legislature gave the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) the responsibility of creating groundwater management areas and directed the agency to develop groundwater management areas that covered all of the major and minor aquifers of the state. The statute directed the TWDB to use aquifer boundaries or subdivisions of aquifer boundaries for the GMA boundaries, but other factors such as political boundaries could be taken into effect. GMA 1, in which North Plains Groundwater Conservation District is a participating district, covers the northern part of the Ogallala aquifer, the Rita Blanca, and part of the Dockum. Other GCDs participating in the GMA 1 planning process include Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District, Hemphill Underground Water Conservation District and High Plains Underground Water Conservation District.
Senate Bill 2 required that groundwater conservation districts share their management plans with each other within a groundwater management area and participate in joint planning, but only if a district in the management area called for it. In 2005, House Bill 1763 changed that by requiring joint planning among groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) within groundwater management areas. The GCDs are required to meet at least annually to conduct joint planning and to review groundwater management plans and accomplishments.
One of the key components of this joint planning process is to determine “desired future conditions”, which are conditions used to calculate the amount of “managed available groundwater” within the management area. These managed available groundwater volumes and conditions are then to be used for regional water plans, groundwater management plans, and determining permitting targets for groundwater production.
Before HB1763, each groundwater conservation district defined their own groundwater availability, which was included in their groundwater management plans for the district. Now GCDs are required to work together to develop a regional groundwater availability volume and develop the “desired future conditions” for their groundwater resources on a regional basis. Desired future conditions are defined as the desired, quantified conditions of groundwater resources at a specified time or times in the future or in perpetuity. In essence, it is a management goal that captures the philosophy and policies addressing how an aquifer will be managed. These desired future conditions are then to be delivered by the districts to the TWDB, which will then provide estimates of “managed available groundwater” to the districts for inclusion in their groundwater plan, and to the regional water planning groups for inclusion in the regional water plan. The groundwater conservation districts are now required to ensure that their groundwater management plans contain goals and objectives consistent with achieving the desired future conditions set within the groundwater management area plan.
One difficulty for North Plains Groundwater Conservation District and its Board of Directors in making rules to manage their groundwater resources is that they are required to consider not only the managed available groundwater and desired future conditions within the boundaries of the district, but they must also plan for the desired future conditions of areas outside of their districts that are not within a groundwater conservation district. These “white areas”, so called because they show up as white on the map of GCDs where each district is assigned its own color, are areas that are not within a GCD, but whose groundwater usage must be taken into account in planning for the future.
Groundwater conservation districts within groundwater management areas are required by statute to submit their desired future conditions to the TWDB by September 1, 2010. These numbers will be used in regional and state water planning for the future, and can be updated by the districts at any time.
While the Texas Legislature has reinforced their position that groundwater conservation districts are the preferred method of groundwater management in Texas, they have now set up guidelines to require that the management of the state’s groundwater resources will also take into consideration conditions on a more regional level as well. The GMA’s have no regulatory authority, and that responsibility will still lie with the groundwater conservation districts, but it is hoped that by participating in a joint planning process the GCDs, and North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, will be better equipped to design groundwater management plans that are best not only for our neighbors but best for the state of Texas as well.
| North Plains Groundwater Conservation District
Election is Scheduled for May 10
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District’s (District) Board of Directors has approved an election order for Directors of three full terms and one unexpired term to be held on May 10, 2008. Four seats on the District’s Board – representing precincts 1, 5, 6, and 7, are scheduled to be on the ballot in May’s election. All but one of the positions, Precinct 1, are for full, four-year terms. The Precinct 1 seat became vacant last year when Tom Mellema resigned the position, leaving open the remainder of his term, which expires May 2010. The District’s Board appointed Brian Bezner to fill the unexpired position.
The Director precincts scheduled for this election are as follows:
- Director Precinct No. 1 is all the area within the District and within Dallam County. Brian Bezner is currently serving as Director.
- Director Precinct No. 5 is all the area within the District and within Hansford & Hutchinson Counties. Bob Zimmer is currently serving as Director.
- Director Precinct No. 6 is all of Ochiltree County. Daniel Krienke is currently serving as Director.
- Director Precinct No. 7 is all the area within the District and within Lipscomb County. Gene Born is currently serving as Director.
Persons interested in running for an elected position on the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District (District) Board of Directors have until 5 p.m. on March 10 to file an application for candidacy. Anyone interested can request an application for a place on the May 10th ballot in person at District headquarters or by mail to the attention of Steven Walthour, General Manager, North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, 603 East 1st Street, P.O. Box 795, Dumas, Texas 79029. The eligibility requirements to be a candidate are the same as for other locally elected positions (city commission or school board).
The District, under the authority of Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code, regulates water well spacing and production and is governed by a 7-member board of directors elected by popular vote from single member precincts. The purpose of the District is to provide for the conservation, preservation, protection, recharging, and prevention of waste of the groundwater consistent with the objectives of the Texas Constitution.
Anyone interested in obtaining more information about the election, about the District, or about the District’s Board of Directors may contact the District office at 806-935-6401 or may e-mail to artho@npwd.org.
Free Water Wise Gardening & Drip Irrigation Class Offered
North Plains Groundwater Conservation District (NPGCD) is offering the fourth annual Water Wise Gardening class on March 29, 2008 at the District offices in Dumas. The class, taught by the Potter/Randall Master Gardeners, presents attendees with information on the principles of xeriscape, or using drought tolerant plants to create a lush and beautiful landscape suited to our dry climate. Also presented will be information on how to install a home drip irrigation system to allow home owners to water their landscape more efficiently and with less work.
The importance of water conservation continues to increase in the Panhandle, and learning more about how to have an attractive home landscape that uses less water and requires less maintenance is a topic that many home owners find very helpful.
When people hear the word xeriscape, what often comes to mind is gravel lawns with a few spotty plantings of cacti and succulents, but that is not at all the case. There are many beautifully flowering perennials that are adapted to a dryer environment, as well as decorative grasses and shrubs, and class participants will learn more about many of them. Participants will leave with many printed resources that they can make use of at home, as well as a list of websites where they can learn more.
The drip irrigation portion of the class will include pictures and information on how to install a drip irrigation system for both the landscape and potted plants such as might be used on a patio. The system is simple to install, and can provide the home owner with water savings, as well as less time spent watering during the hot summer months.
The class will be held at the NPGCD offices at 603 East 1st Street in Dumas on March 29 from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM. Anyone interested in attending can contact Rhonda Artho at 806-935-6401 or e-mail to artho@npwd.org to sign up.
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