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Monday, November 24, 1997

Use of underground water sources prompts call for regulation

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - An increasing dependence on underground water in Texas' Coastal Bend has authorities trying to figure out how such resources should be regulated.

Surface water supplies in the Coastal Bend, notably Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir, have diminished in recent droughts.

Officials in Bee, San Patricio and Refugio counties say more people have been going underground for water, creating the need for regulations, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported Sunday.

New state legislation requires counties to come together to consider all possible water resources for a regional water plan. That same legislation places limitations on future interbasin transfers, such as the one under way now with construction of the Lake Texana Pipeline.

The limits will likely prevent Corpus Christi from going to another river basin if it needs more water in the future, said James Dodson, regional water director.

"What it means is we are going to have to be looking more closely at the groundwater resources, at ways of conjunctively managing ground and surface water resources," Dodson said.

Those ground water resources are the Gulf Coast Aquifer, or subsections of it.

The counties served by Corpus Christi's water-supply system sit above the aquifer, one of nine major underground water sources in Texas. It sits under 53 counties along the coast and serves as the water supply for some municipalities, including Refugio.

In May 1996, farmers' and ranchers' concerns about ground water regulation mounted when they discovered old wells from the 1950s while drilling for irrigation, said Bobby Nedbalek, a farmer and rancher near Sinton.

"We realized at that time that we didn't have any mechanism of recording where wells were, if they were plugged properly or if they were plugged at all," Nedbalek said. "We became concerned about saltwater intrusion, if wells were pumped hard, as to where it would affect quality."

Nedbalek and others then used the fastest and most frequently used route to create a water district - special legislation.

Rep. Judy Hawley, D-Portland, sponsored the legislation, which passed this year. Federal approval is now needed for a countywide election required to approve a district's creation and appointment of an official director.

An underground water district could regulate how many wells could be drilled and how much water could be extracted.

Corpus Christi and the surrounding area used to get water from aquifers but went to a reservoir system about a century ago, Dodson said. If it now goes to ground water, it faces questions about water quality in the Gulf Coast Aquifer, officials from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and Texas Water Development Board said.

Most of the groundwater in coastal counties suffers from saltwater intrusion, said Mark Jordan, director of the Water Policy and Regulations Division of the TNRCC.

Initial indications are that the aquifer does not offer a large supply of water for drinking or other domestic purposes, they said. Until the various sections of the massive aquifer are studied further, its usefulness as a water supply will remain unknown, he said.Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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