Groundwater Conservation District - what's that?
Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code authorizes the creation of groundwater districts
and outlines the duties and powers of groundwater districts. Groundwater districts
were created to provide for the conservation, protection, preservation, recharging,
and prevention of waste of groundwater, and of groundwater reservoirs, and to
control subsidence caused by the withdrawal of water from those groundwater
reservoirs. A district has the authority to regulate the spacing of water wells, the
production of water wells, or both. The Guadalupe County Groundwater
Conservation District was first created in 1997 in Chapter 1066, Acts of the 75th
Legislature, and confirmed by election in November 1999. Seven initial directors
were elected at that time. The Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation
District encompasses approximately 279,100 acres in Guadalupe County.
Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code authorizes the creation of groundwater districts
and outlines the duties and powers of groundwater districts. Groundwater districts
were created to provide for the conservation, protection, preservation, recharging,
and prevention of waste of groundwater, and of groundwater reservoirs, and to
control subsidence caused by the withdrawal of water from those groundwater
reservoirs. A district has the authority to regulate the spacing of water wells, the
production of water wells, or both. The Guadalupe County Groundwater
Conservation District was first created in 1997 in Chapter 1066, Acts of the 75th
Legislature, and confirmed by election in November 1999. Seven initial directors
were elected at that time. The Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation
District encompasses approximately 279,100 acres in Guadalupe County.
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Guadalupe County Groundwater
Conservation District
Conservation District
Conservation districts in the area that control the Carrizo Aquifer are the Evergreen, the
Gonzales, and the Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District (the GCGCD).
When the GCGCD was formed, it was decided to model our rule set on the existing rule sets
of the adjoining districts. These rule sets were written when there was little demand for
water beyond that required by rural landowners for agriculture, so the amount of water each
landowner was allowed to extract was set correspondingly high, at 2-2.5 ac.-ft. per surface
acre owned.
Enter new demand for water from nearby municipalities with enough wherewithal to
transport it away in pipelines. Quickly, the old rules began to reveal cracks. Mainly because
of the high extraction rate allowed, modern producers found they could make comfortable
deals with a few lucky landowners and extract almost without limit from a relatively small
patch of ground. This concentrated production will inevitably lead to a general lowering of
the water table for all property owners around it, and also to the inequitable distribution of
the resource. This questionable and potentially depletionary modus operandi is what the
new GCGCD rules were written to correct.
Under the new rules, the volume and shape of the saturated section of the Carrizo Aquifer in
Guadalupe County have been defined by an expert hydrologist using a sophisticated
computer program. This shape underlies a large group of property owners in the
southeastern part of the county. Each property owner acquires the right to produce from the
specific part of the saturated aquifer beneath his or her property, a part also calculated by
computer. Each part so calculated is a certain percentage of the whole aquifer, and this
percentage is a number attached to the specific property above it. The district has also
decided that 12,583 ac.-ft. per year can be removed from the aquifer, and the amount of water
rights each property owner receives (to use or sell) equals the specific individual percentage
of the aquifer mentioned above times the 12,583 ac.-ft. This means that every property owner
over the aquifer gets a different amount of water rights based on two things: the exact size of
his or her property and the exact location of that property over the aquifer.
Taken together, the rules create a true free market in water rights and, at the same time,
enhance conservation. For example, under the new rules, it is much easier for producers to
locate wells exactly according to proper hydrology, which makes good sense. And since
acquired water rights attached to any well can now be located anywhere over the aquifer, not
just around the well, all property owners wishing to sell water rights are now on a very level,
very competitive playing field. Moreover, since available water rights are now fairly
distributed, many more people will receive direct remuneration from the sale of water.
Therefore, many more people will be directly vested in the future of the aquifer. This will
naturally lead to greater political involvement by all property owners over the aquifer,
which is not only a beneficial state of affairs for conservation, but also a paradigm for the
future of water governance in Texas.
Gonzales, and the Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District (the GCGCD).
When the GCGCD was formed, it was decided to model our rule set on the existing rule sets
of the adjoining districts. These rule sets were written when there was little demand for
water beyond that required by rural landowners for agriculture, so the amount of water each
landowner was allowed to extract was set correspondingly high, at 2-2.5 ac.-ft. per surface
acre owned.
Enter new demand for water from nearby municipalities with enough wherewithal to
transport it away in pipelines. Quickly, the old rules began to reveal cracks. Mainly because
of the high extraction rate allowed, modern producers found they could make comfortable
deals with a few lucky landowners and extract almost without limit from a relatively small
patch of ground. This concentrated production will inevitably lead to a general lowering of
the water table for all property owners around it, and also to the inequitable distribution of
the resource. This questionable and potentially depletionary modus operandi is what the
new GCGCD rules were written to correct.
Under the new rules, the volume and shape of the saturated section of the Carrizo Aquifer in
Guadalupe County have been defined by an expert hydrologist using a sophisticated
computer program. This shape underlies a large group of property owners in the
southeastern part of the county. Each property owner acquires the right to produce from the
specific part of the saturated aquifer beneath his or her property, a part also calculated by
computer. Each part so calculated is a certain percentage of the whole aquifer, and this
percentage is a number attached to the specific property above it. The district has also
decided that 12,583 ac.-ft. per year can be removed from the aquifer, and the amount of water
rights each property owner receives (to use or sell) equals the specific individual percentage
of the aquifer mentioned above times the 12,583 ac.-ft. This means that every property owner
over the aquifer gets a different amount of water rights based on two things: the exact size of
his or her property and the exact location of that property over the aquifer.
Taken together, the rules create a true free market in water rights and, at the same time,
enhance conservation. For example, under the new rules, it is much easier for producers to
locate wells exactly according to proper hydrology, which makes good sense. And since
acquired water rights attached to any well can now be located anywhere over the aquifer, not
just around the well, all property owners wishing to sell water rights are now on a very level,
very competitive playing field. Moreover, since available water rights are now fairly
distributed, many more people will receive direct remuneration from the sale of water.
Therefore, many more people will be directly vested in the future of the aquifer. This will
naturally lead to greater political involvement by all property owners over the aquifer,
which is not only a beneficial state of affairs for conservation, but also a paradigm for the
future of water governance in Texas.
| How the Rules of the Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District Were Derived |
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New! New version of the rules that corrects transcription mistakes and
includes new rules and modifications passed since August 2004.
includes new rules and modifications passed since August 2004.
New! New Management
Plan approved October 2007
Plan approved October 2007