A second report co-authored by EDF, Advancing Groundwater Sustainability in Texas: A Guide to Existing Authorities and Management Tools for Groundwater Conservation Districts and Communities<\/em><\/a>, lays out a path for addressing the looming groundwater crisis utilizing existing law.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Groundwater districts have authority to act.<\/strong><\/p>\n During a recent media briefing<\/a> on both reports, I highlighted how groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) \u2014 local agencies charged with managing and protecting groundwater supplies, especially in rural areas \u2014 are authorized by state law to implement a variety of tools that would help them better manage groundwater supplies.<\/p>\n Key tools at their disposal include:<\/p>\n The good news is groundwater districts are leveraging some of these measures to protect groundwater as well as rivers, streams and springs above the ground fed by groundwater. For instance, the Hays Trinity GCD<\/a> has developed drought triggers to protect groundwater supplies and Jacob\u2019s Well. Meanwhile, the Post Oak Savannah GCD<\/a> recently implemented a new program to encourage conservation and stewardship of groundwater through economic incentives for landowners to place their groundwater into a district-managed conservancy.<\/p>\n Texas is managing groundwater toward depletion<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, analysis by the Meadows Center shows that Texas is currently allowing the slow and eventual depletion of our aquifers.<\/p>\n Excluding the Ogallala Aquifer, the long-term management goals adopted by groundwater districts allow groundwater pumping to total 6.3 million acre-feet per year \u2014 nearly twice the maximum sustainable rate of 3.3 million acre-feet per year.<\/p>\n Groundwater is being pumped out of the Ogallala, the primary source of water for Texans in the High Plains and Panhandle regions, 6.5 times faster than its maximum sustainable rate.<\/p>\n The takeaway from this analysis is that groundwater management is headed in the wrong direction in Texas. Indeed, Mace notes that wells and springs in some areas, including parts of the Hill Country outside Austin, are already going dry more frequently than they once did.<\/p>\nGroundwater management in Texas is headed in the wrong direction, but groundwater agencies have the authorities and tools to reverse this alarming trajectory. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n Inaction threatens people, property rights, economies and ecosytems. This trend toward groundwater depletion threatens to wreak havoc on not only rural landowners and communities, Texas\u2019 broader economy, and key industries such as farming and ranching, but also the state\u2019s treasured rivers, streams and springs. During dry periods, groundwater sustains as much as 30% of the water in river and creek basins \u2014 a critical figure that will decline if the state can\u2019t get groundwater pumping under control.<\/p>\n\n
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