Plum Creek Conservation District

PL UM C REEKC O NS E R V A T I ON DI S T R I CT

N E W S L E T T E R

S P E CI AL
P OIN T S O F
I N TE R E ST :V O L U M EI S S U E

1J A N U A R Y

1 ,2 0 1 1DFCs and

GMA Process - 2nd Stage Begins

MAGs arenow in thefinal stages


1 ,A newgroundwater

The final stage of statewide groundwater process is now being implemented.

aquifer isemerging
along the IH35 corridor
PCCD maintains andregulates 28
earthen damsin Hays andCaldwellCounties

I N SI DE TH I S
I S S UE :High Demand

2AG Opinion

2

Texas L egi slature

2

PCCD Dams

3

New Building

3

PCCD History

4

mathematical groundwa- water (MAG) numbers for theter models to issue Man- districts to manage for permitaged Available Ground- ted wells.
The MAGs will be allocatedwithin 6-months or March1,
2011. This will set the amountof groundwater permitted eachyear for the next 50-years.

It all began in 2005 withthe passage of HB1763. This bill gave thestate’s water districts 5-years to designate Desired Future Conditions(DFC) for each aquifer
across the entire state.
This initial effort ended
on September 1, 2010.
The TWDB will now
test these DFCs against

16 GMA areas

New Groundwater Source ?
A new deep freshbrackish aquifer is beginning to emerge near theIH-35 corridor.
The Hosston Formation
may contain freshbrackish water at depths

between 2,000—
3,500’ below thesurface. Thesesands and gravels
were deposited
upon an ancientrange.

It is still unclear how exactly
this will work. The issues include groundwater ownership,
landowners’ rights, regional
planning, and exempt wells.
The 2011 legislative session
may or may not address theissues.

PAG E 2

Yoakum Channel
Cross Section

High Demand Aquifer-SE Caldwell
A high demand for exported
water is emerging in SE Caldwell County and NE Gonzales
County.

celerating in the area, in anticipation of moving water toward
the IH-35 and new State Hwy
130 area.

fine grained clays and silts.
Then the entire mass began tosag under the weight of theoverlying Upper Wilcox .

The Carrizo aquifer in thisarea is enormously thick due
to an underlying ancient submarine canyon known as theYoakum Channel. This Middle
Wilcox channel filled withshale and then compacted
allowing the overlying Carrizo
to thicken.

The Yoakum Middle Wilcox
Channel developed as one ofseveral Eocene submarine
channels that later plugged
with shale. A 3,000 foot deepcanyon eroded out millions ofcubic feet of sand and dumped
over the shelf into the deep
water Gulf of Mexico.

This sag in SE Caldwell County
and NE Gonzales County created a chute for the depositionof the overlying Carrizo coarse
grained sands.

Groundwater leasing and promotion has recently been ac-The seas rose and the canyon
was subsequently filled with

The Attorney
General’s Opinion
on theOverlapping
Gonzales-PCCD
area wasinconclusive

The PCCD and the Gonzales
County groundwater districts
overlap each other in this highdemand area and some landowners face double taxation
issues.

Texas State Legislative
SessionThe Texas Legislature has officially begun its 82nd Regular Session. While there is aneed to address water supply issues, the general thinking is that there are so manyother matters that will occupy Legislators’ time that serious attention to water issueswill be skipped this year.
Texas has a system that is unique when it comes to water. Water flowing in watercourses in Texas is owned by the State. People, including corporations, wanting to use
the water for commercial purposes have to acquire a permit to use it from the State.
Water on the surface of the ground that is not in a watercourse, not part of an underground River, and not classified as the underflow of a stream is owned by the person inpossession of the water. Groundwater that is found under the ground’s surface is notclassified as surface water. While those are the general rules, water in Texas canchange “character” and surface water can become groundwater and groundwater canbecome surface water.
One bill dealing with groundwater ownership has already been filed. Sen. Fraser ofHorseshoe Bay has filed a bill to modify the wording in the Texas Water Code dealing
with ownership of groundwater. The bill has been proposed because of an ongoingdebate about whether the person who owns the land’s surface also owns the water
underneath the land, or whether that person just “owns” the right to capture the waterthat may be found under the land. There is a case pending in the Texas Supreme Court
that has the potential for answering the question.

PLU M CREEKCON SERV AT I ON

DI ST RI CT

V OLU ME 1, I SSU E 1

PAG E 3PCCD Dams
Flood control was the primary purpose of the original 28 dams constructed across the PCCD area.
It has been almost 50-years since
the first dam was planned and constructed.
When the dams were originallyconstructed, the area was primarily
occupied by rural landowners. Nowmuch of that land that surrounds thedams and lakes is urbanized with city
lots and small acreage parcels.
The State of Texas classifies dams interms of hazard probabilities. This
classification system refers to theconsequences of failure.

Most of the dams when they werefirst constructed were not “highhazard” due to the rural nature of
the downstream land.
A recent geological study of thepotential hazards of each dam has
been made under conditions of
extreme flood events.

ered, as well as other surface parameters.
Inspection is a key ingredient to safety, as well
as detailed mapping of the individual structures.
Maintenance is also a very important aspectof the hazard safety of each individual structure at periodic intervals.

It should result in more frequent
inspections of certain dams where
two distinct lithologic units bifurcate the dams and lakes. In one
instance a fault separates toe units
across a dam. This could lead todifferential erosion at the point ofcontact. However, numerous geological factors need to be consid-

New Building for PCCD
A new building is in the works for
the PCCD in Lockhart at a newlocation.
Plans are being considered for thepurchase of land for the new building in a city owned industrial park.

tively large meeting room and staff
offices, including a possible lab.
The plans for the land and the newbuilding could be finished during
2011.

It is likely that contracts will soon
be signed for the land. Designs forthe new building are now emerging
with consideration given to a rela-Proposed GBRA Pipeline

GBRA Proposes 100-Mile Pipeline -$400 Million
GBRA (Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority) has proposed
a $400 million water pipeline and infrastructure to movegroundwater from Lee and Bastrop Counties to the IH35 corridor and San Antonio.
The groundwater target is designated as the Simsboro
Formation in the Wilcox Group and the Carrizo Formation.

This proposed line would provide approximately 80,000 acre feet of water
per year by the year 2020.
The proposal has stirred controversy between two Planning Districts, Region
K and Region L, as well as the Bastrop Lost Pines Groundwater District
which have opposing views.
The groundwater would be produced by four separate business entities.

Plum Creek Conservation District

Directors

1403 Blackjack St. ( FM 20 East)James A. Holt Jr., President, Kyle

Suite –C
PO Box 328
Lockhart, Texas 78644

James O. Lipscomb, Vice-President, Lockhart

Phone: 512-398-2383
Fax: 512-398-7776
E-mail: info@pccd.org
Web Site: www.pccd.org

Peter Reinecke, Secretary-Treasu rer, Luling
Ben Twidwell, Luling
Lucy Knight, LockhartFred Rothert, Kyle

Staff
Johnie Halliburton, Executive Manager
Karen Bassett, Secretary
Daniel Meyer, Assistant Manager
Korey Schuelke, Field Technician
Robert Wilson, Consulting Attorney
Wm Feathergail Wilson, PG, Consulting Geologist

Map of the PCCD overlain by USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangles.

PCCD History
The Plum Creek Conservation District was formed by a legislature enactment in 1957 for flood control. It
was amended on January 1st, 1989 toadd groundwater responsibilities andapproved by the District voters onMay 1st, 1993.

The combined dis-trict covers portions of Caldwell andHays Counties, Texas. It overlaps theBarton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District and the Edwards
Aquifer Authority control area.
At the present time, PCCD maintains
28 flood control dams in Hays andCaldwell Counties. The District alsooversees all of the groundwater issues and rules within its area.
Recently (2009), PCCD revised its
rules to reflect and emphasize a science based set of requirements for
newly permitted groundwater wells.