Texas Groundwater Summit 2015

1. Vista Ridge Panel
Texas alliance of groundwater districts
2015 Groundwater Summit
August 25, 2015
Gary Westbrook
POSGCD General Manager
Office: 512-455-9900
Cell: 979-571-5761
Email: gwestbrook@posgcd.org
Website: www.posgcd.org

2. history
• 2000- Estimated that 35,000 + Acres leased (Rockdale Reporter)
• 2001 POSGCD Created
• 2004 POSGCD Adopts Management Plan and Rules
• 2004- Layne Water Development of Texas Production &
Transport Permits approved for 15,488 Acre Feet/Year
• 2005- LWDT amends permits to 30,993 AF
• 2007- Blue Water Systems purchases rights to permits and
leases
• 2009- BWS amends permits to 70,993 AF
• 2014- BWS splits permits into 20,000 AF to serve I-130 area,
50,993 AF to BWS-Vista Ridge regional project
• 2015- BWS-VR permit transferred to Abengoa-Vista Ridge

3. Permit specifics
• Production permitted from Simsboro and Carrizo aquifers in
Burleson County (GMA 12) based on correlative rights
approach (currently 2 AF/Acre/Year Max Production)
• Multiple GAM runs and POSGCD Management Strategies
evaluated at each application
• 30 Yr. Transport permit, 40 Yr. production permit
– Effective date of September 14, 2004
– Contingent on water availability based on aquifer conditions
– 5 Year Reviews
– Permits adjustable
– Additional Restrictions and Requirements
– Risks of availability born by permittee
• Advanced POSGCD Monitoring Network

4. Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer

5. Central Carrizo-Wilcox Area

6. Established tools in place to achieve management
goals
• Well Spacing
• Contiguous Acreage requirements
• Management Zones
• Production per acre limits (currently 2 Acre Feet/Acre/Yr)
• Total permitted
• Permit requirements
• Five year reviews
• DFC Process (GMA and District)
• Thresholds (Section 16 of Rules) and Monitoring
• Improvement of Groundwater Modeling Tools

7. Shallow Deep
Hooper 8 0
Simsboro 13 20
Calvert Bluff 5 0
Carrizo 4 4
Queen City 5 6
Sparta 0 10
Yegua-Jackson N/A 3
Brazos River Alluvium 7 N/A
Management Zone
Aquifer
Posgcd CURRENT MONITOR WELL COUNT

8. POSGCD Monitoring Locations for Wilcox Aquifer