Plum Creek Conservation District

PLUM CREEKCONSERVATION
DISTRICTN E W S L E T T E R

SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST:V O L U M E

2S P R I N G

2 0 1 1

Groundwater Ownership

Shale gasplays extend
over a wide
area of SouthTexas.

N U M B E R

Who owns
groundwater?

1

PCCD Site #8
Repair Project

Who owns the groundwater?

personal property if it iscaptured.

Surface water is ownedby the State of Texas.

Groundwater moves

Many landowners believe they own thegroundwater.

SB-332 is now being debated in the House after passing the Senate.

That question is now
being raised and debatedin the present 82nd legislative session.

INSIDE THISISSUE:Well Registration

2Site 8 Repair Project2

Drought in Texas

3Water Levels

3

One of the main questions is the term
“vested”. Vested implies
groundwater is real
property in deference toOil, gas, gravel, coal andother minerals are attached to the land.
Groundwater moves
over a range of feet per
day to miles per day.

beneath the surface ofthe land and therefore is
not attached to the land.

It is unknown at thetime of this postingwhether or not thegroundwater ownershipissue will be settled inthis session.

Shale Gas & Horizontal Drilling
Shale gas horizontal drilling, with hydrofracking,is rapidly moving acrossSouth Texas.
Each new well utilizes
about 3-5 million gallons

of fresh water on a onetime basis. Wells are
drilled on 160– acre
spacing. The South Texas plays cover approximately 17 million acres.

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2

Have you
Registered yourWater Well with
the Plum Creek
Conservation
District ?

Site #8 damaged
slide area.

Site #8 after Repair WorkPCCD Well Registration Requirements
Is your water well registeredwith the PCCD? Under
PCCD’s rules, all water wells
must be registered. To register
your water well, simply go toour website www.pccd.org,
click on the registration button,
fill out the online form, and hit
submit. It is that simple. You
can also either, download theform, fill it out, and send it in,or come into our office and fill
one out. There is not any costto register your well. It isFREE.

water pump information, welllogs and etc. All of the information we gather from thesewells is intricately linked withaquifer conditions and is anecessary component in aiding
PCCD in fulfilling its legislative mandate of conservation,preservation, protection, recharging and prevention ofwaste of groundwater.

What is the purpose of registering a well and what benefit is it
to the landowner? The purposeof registering a well is primarily to have documentation of all
the water wells in PCCD. This
gives us valuable information
as to where the water wells arelocated, the total depth, screen
settings, casing specifications,

One of the advantages of alandowner registering his orher well is that any registered
well in the vicinity of a proposed production water wellmust be recognized in the water well production permit
application. For example, If
there is an application for alarge production well thatcomes before the PCCD Board
to be permitted, only the REGISTERED and PERMITTEDWELLS on adjacent and near-by properties are considered andexamined for possible impacts. For
any Tier II well (producing over
300 acre feet per year) that is permitted by PCCD , there also must
be an accompanying mitigation
plan. A mitigation plan helps toresolve issues when or if a landowner’s registered well is adversely
impacted by a permitted well. If awell is not registered, there is minimal protection under our rules.
Last, registered water well information can be a valuable resource
for landowners wishing to drill a
new water well on their property. It
can provide answers to the water
quality in the area, how deep one
may have to drill to reach water andmuch more. The staff at PCCD is
more than happy to assist you in
registering your well or providing
information that can assist you indrilling a new well.

Site #8 Repair Project
Back in 1998 Site #8 experienced a slide on the back side of the dam. Site #8 is located off of FM
2720 in northern Caldwell County. After the slide, plans were made to repair the dam. In 2008,
revenues to repair the dam became available through the American Recovery & Investment Act.
The cost for the project was approximately $ 900,000 dollars . The repair involved removing
the dam in layers and then rebuilding the structure using earthen materials mixed with lime to act
as a stabilizing agent . Currently, the last step in completion is to reseed the dam with grass. Having
a good turf is important in preventing erosion and allowing the structure to do its job for floodcontrol.

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How do you know when you’re in a Drought ?
There is not a clear cut universally accepted definition of a drought, so determining when you’rein one and when you’re not is somewhat of a difficult assessment. The assessment of a drought
can be done using a number of different drought indices. These indices involve using various indicators such as precipitation, temperature, soil moisture and other variables in a prescribed formula
to calculate levels of drought. Just as it is difficult to define a drought, it is also difficult to quantify the impacts of a drought. The effects of a drought can have far reaching implications andmay have negative economic consequences for years to come. On any given year, there will beareas in the United States that will be experiencing a drought. Currently, as of May 1, 2011, a majority of Texas ,including Caldwell County is in a drought. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Caldwell County is in anextreme drought. The weather forecast for Texas, which takes in consideration the La Ni ña, predicts continued
below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures.
A drought can be classified into 3 basic types: Meteorological, Agricultural, and Hydrological.
Metrological Drought: “Is a measure of the departure of precipitation from normal”.
The Percent of Normal Index. Is an indices’ which is well suited to look at meteorological drought. The Percent of Normal index is derived by dividing the actual precipitation by normal precipitation. The Percent ofNormal can be calculated for any given period, whether it is over a week, month or year.
Agricultural Drought: refers to” a situation when the amount of moisture in the soil no longer meets the needsof a particular crop”.
The Palmer Drought Severity Index( The Palmer; PDSI) is a fairly good indicator when looking at agricultural drought . The PDSI is calculated based on precipitation and temperature data, as well as the local Available
Water Content (AWC) of the soil. Many U.S. government agencies and states rely on the Palmer to trigger
drought relief programs.
Hydrological: “Occurs when surface and subsurface water supplies are below normal.”Indicators of Hydrological drought conditions can come from USGS stream flow monitors, reservoir levels,and aquifer water levels.
As a groundwater conservation district we are concerned with all drought, but particularly hydrological drought
in which aquifer water levels are impacted. Currently the district monitors water levels throughout the district.
Below is one of the few wells that have been measured since the drought of the 1950’s.

-80

Water Levels for State Well 6704902-90-100-110

FEET-120

Water Level-130-140

DATE3

James A. Holt Jr., President, Kyle
James O. Lipscomb, Vice-President, Lockhart
Peter Reinecke, Secretary-Treasurer, Luling
Ben Twidwell, Luling
Lucy Knight, Lockhart

PO Box 328

Lockhart, Texas 78644

Phone: 512-398-2383

Fax: 512-398-7776

E-mail: info@pccd.org

Lockhart, Texas 78644

PO Box 328

1400 FM 20 EastPlum Creek Conservation District

HereStampPlaceWm Feathergail Wilson, PG, Consulting Geologist

Robert Wilson, Consulting Attorney

Korey Schuelke, Field Technician

Daniel Meyer, Assistant Manager

Karen Bassett, Secretary

Johnie Halliburton, Executive Manager

Staff

The Plum Creek Conservation District’s Newsletter is available via email. If you or someone you know would like toreceive our Newsletter via email rather than US Mail then contact our office at (512) 398-2383.

Web Site: www.pccd.org
Fred Rothert, Kyle

Directors

1403 FM 20 East

Plum Creek Conservation District