Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Meeting Monday on EP permit application

Houston-based Electro Purification has returned to the headlines, accompanied by the fear that pumping from their commercial wells into the Trinity Aquifer will adversely affect those of nearby residents.

A meeting to examine the permit application set to be voted on by the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) will be held Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Wimberley Community Center. Although the issue is of primary importance to residents of the Wimberley area, Dianne Wassenich of the San Marcos River Foundation pointed out that many who live out Lime Kiln and Hilliard roads have Trinity wells that could also be impacted.

“The amount that EP wants to pump would lower the aquifer 300 feet in a 2-mile radius, so the district is proposing just allowing a small amount of pumping to start, monitoring water levels to see the effects,” Wassenich said.

BSEACD gave its approval last month for EP to pump an initial 2.5 million gallons of water daily; however, the board has yet to give its OK.

There were also restrictions attached to staff approval, including a warning that full implementation would adversely affect some neighboring wells and instruction that pumping should be increased only in instrumental stages of a half million gallons a day. Also, triggers would have to be established by which to curtail pumping, particularly to protect the Cow Creek and Lower Glen Rose formations of the aquifer.

EP would additionally have to formulate a mitigation plan.

“Special provisions” to the initial staff approval include a cancelation of the permit if EP’s contract with Goforth Water Supply expires or is no longer effective.

The BSEACD is accepting written comments on the permit through June 25 at bseacd@bseacd.org.

“The best way to keep informed and see a list of draft comments you might want to make is to follow TESPA (Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association) on Facebook and review their posts of the past two weeks,” Wassenich said. “Or simply ask the BSEACD to keep in mind that the San Marcos Springs will be affected negatively by less recharge if the aquifer is drawn down enough that the Trinity Springs flow less...Cutting springflows is taking water away from our entire region, water that our region depends on.”

She noted that Trinity groundwater contributes to flow in the Blanco River and San Marcos Springs.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666