Billions of Gallons of Groundwater In Jeopardy
Consolidated Water Supply Corporation held a special meeting Tuesday, June 3 to prepare a response to the proposed “water grab.” Government leaders and members of the public voiced their concern and in some cases, outrage, at the proposal to sell local groundwater to big cities in the vast amounts proposed. Photo by Kelly Nicol / Messenger
Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – A proposed groundwater withdrawal application has stirred urgent concern across Houston and Anderson counties, where a little-known entity has applied to extract nearly the entire modeled sustainable water supply from a local aquifer — with no clear explanation of how the water will be used.
The applicant, Redtown Ranch Holdings, submitted a permit to the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District (NTVGWCD) requesting volumes that would account for 98.9% of the aquifer’s modeled available groundwater, according to local officials.
Amber Stelly, General Manager of Consolidated Water Supply of Houston County, said the scope of the request is unprecedented and potentially devastating.
“Just looking at the volumes listed on the application — and that’s not even including 11 additional wells they’re requesting — the request significantly exceeds the modeled available groundwater in both Anderson and Henderson Counties,” Stelly told The Messenger. “Satisfying the permit request would mean the district is authorizing more withdrawal from the aquifer than what the aquifer could sustainably produce, according to the district’s own management plan and their own numbers.”
The application is under review by the NTVGCD, which oversees groundwater management in the region under strict rules. However, the request’s vagueness has added to the frustration and fear among local water providers.
“The application essentially states that it’s for ‘all beneficial uses’ subject to Texas Water Code rules,” Stelly said. “And so I would say ‘all beneficial uses’ is not a specific use.”
With no detailed end-use identified, officials are left speculating: Is the water meant for agriculture? Industrial resale? Urban pipeline export? Environmental impact assessments are nearly impossible to calculate without this information, Stelly said.
“Where is the water going? Because we don’t have a specified beneficial use, we don’t know,” she added. “Is it going to affect watersheds? Is it going to go into the Trinity River and affect anything downstream? Is it going to create groundwater-to-surface-water interactions? We don’t know.”
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County officials in both Houston and Anderson counties have begun asking hard questions, organizing meetings and calling on stakeholders — from agricultural operators to rural suppliers like Consolidated Water — to weigh in.
“County officials are reaching out to the small guys and the big guys like us and trying to get an understanding on risk,” Stelly explained. “They’re asking: Are these numbers that we should be paying attention to? Do you think these numbers will affect you?”
A key meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening drew local leaders, board members, and concerned residents. The high turn out showed locals concerns over the project — and their willingness to get involved. Dr. John McCall, who owns property next to the proposed project, spoke against the wells, and opposition was also voiced by Anderson County Judge Carey McKinney.
In an earlier statement, McKinney said he had attended a meeting about the project saying, “It was unanimous by everyone in attendance we must contest the applications for the permits to protect our water resources so that our community water systems and private wells in our local counties and communities will not go dry. This literally will affect every citizen in our counties. (Cattle raisers and local industries that depend on water wells will potentially be at risk as well.) We have to preserve our natural resources for our economic growth, health, and well-being for today and for the future of our children and grand-children.”
A special meeting of Anderson County commissioners’ court was for Wednesday, June 4 to get authorization to work with attorneys to file a contest to the proposal. Houston County Judge Jim Lovell also promised to schedule a special meeting to discuss the county’s response to the project.
Stelly said the goal is both to educate and to assess how Consolidated Water might formally respond.
“We want to consider our position on this application. Do we think we’re affected parties? We think we are,” Stelly said. “If this application is granted in its current state, it could negatively affect our operations and our members and our neighbors’ operations.”
The consequences of over-withdrawal could ripple far beyond just water pressure or service interruptions.
“We’re concerned about depletion of the aquifer,” Stelly said. “And the rate of depletion really just depends on things like precipitation. These are all models… We don’t have a model for our local effects — how would it affect our 12 wells in the area? We don’t know.”
Despite the lack of transparency from the applicant, Stelly emphasized local leaders are preparing to contest the permit on both technical and regulatory grounds.
“We’re tasked with making sure our water lasts for generations,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll get some consent items where we can formally contest the volumes that are being requested based on real technical deficiencies in the permit.”
Stelly was unequivocal in her conclusion: “This isn’t just paperwork. This is about safeguarding the future of water in our community.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
