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By By Marty Kufus
Wilson County News
SAN ANTONIO — The Bexar County Commissioners’ Court last week approved one resolution supporting the San Antonio Water System and Bexar Metropolitan Water District and another condemning a proposed annexation by the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District.
Their gist: Water projects planned by SAWS and BexarMet for the Carrizo Aquifer in southern Bexar County are good, and the proposed annexation of that area by the Evergreen is bad.
An Evergreen election tentatively is set for May 4 in southern Bexar County.
County Commissioner Robert Tejeda, precinct 1, proposed the two resolutions, which are expressions of official sentiment that carry no legal weight.
The court approved them during its Feb. 12 meeting.
Judge Nelson Wolff and commissioners Paul Elizondo, precinct 2, Lyle Larson, precinct 3, Tommy Adkisson, precinct 4, and Tejeda voted yes to both resolutions, according to the county clerk’s office.
Support
One resolution stated support for SAWS’ aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) project being built in southern Bexar County. The “Twin Oaks” site occupies some 3,000 acres in the southern-most tip of the county.
The area proposed for Evergreen annexation is formed on the south by the Atascosa and Wilson county lines, S.H. 16 on the west, Loop 1604 on the north, and U.S. 181 on the east.
The ASR project, years in development, envisions the wet-season storage of excess Edwards Aquifer water in a small portion of the Carrizo Aquifer for withdrawal in drought.
The court’s resolution said the ASR project would be of “significant benefit to the citizens of Bexar County” and all who rely on the Edwards Aquifer.
It also cited SAWS and BexarMet’s “memorandum of understanding [signed] in December 2001, establishing joint efforts to manage ground-water resources to the benefit of all” Bexar County residents.
Last summer, dozens of southern-Bexar residents petitioned the Evergreen’s board of directors for district annexation.
Members of that grass-roots movement said they feared a water-pumping (production) project planned by SAWS at its ASR site might “draw down” their own Carrizo wells.
SAWS’ technical staff has yet to produce definitive data ruling out such an effect. The water system’s top officials have promised a mitigative program to repair, or compensate for, any problems that might occur in neighboring landowners’ wells.
The scope of the production project also has been reduced in recent SAWS announcements: from as much as 30,000 acre-feet (9.78 billion gallons) a year between 2003 and 2010, down to 14,000 acre-feet (4.56 billion gallons) a year in 2004 and/or 2005 in the event of severe cutbacks in the pumping of the Edwards Aquifer.
The Evergreen district, headquartered in Pleasanton, comprises Wilson, Karnes, Atascosa, and Frio counties. Its property-tax rate currently is 1.74 cents per $100 valuation.
The Evergreen’s pumping limits and current ban on ASR, if extended into southern Bexar County, significantly would affect SAWS’ and possibly BexarMet’s plans.
An annexational election first had been scheduled for Feb. 2.
The Evergreen board cancelled it, though, in the face of a federal lawsuit (whose co-plaintiff is a Thelma-community activist and a member of BexarMet’s board).
Because of a postal emergency in Washington, the Evergreen staff had failed to obtain election pre-clearance from the Department of Justice (Jan. 30 Wilson County News).
Opposition
The Bexar County commissioners’ second resolution stated clear opposition to annexation.
It said the Evergreen “has not provided any evidence of a direct or substantial benefit to the well owners within the proposed annexation for the additional [property] tax. …”
Pumping of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer system in southern Bexar “has little or no impact on wells in Atascosa, Wilson, Karnes, and Frio counties,” the resolution said.
The annexation “will impact approximately 20 communities served by the Carrizo-Wilcox,” it said.
The resolution acknowledges BexarMet and SAWS’ opposition to annexation, which “may significantly delay or impede the development” of the ASR project.
Both water purveyors “have stated that any increases in fees as a result of the proposed annexation will be passed through to its customers,” the resolution warned.
Background
In the past, Evergreen board and staff members reacted favorably, if cautiously, to a SAWS proposal to one day expand ASR into Atascosa and/or Wilson counties in a cooperative effort — provided sound science and careful testing in southern Bexar showed the injection of Edwards water into the Carrizo did not harm that sand-and-gravel aquifer.
However, the Evergreen board’s attitude toward SAWS hardened considerably in February 2001 with the surprise news that production pumping also was being planned for the southern-Bexar ASR site.
SAWS’ production proposal had not been listed in the first installment of the 50-year water plan created by “Region L” planners.
For more background information, go to the “Water Related Issues” archive at www.wilsoncountynews.com.
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