Water Stewardship in Texas Water stewardship in Texas is a complicated matter and it is made even more perplexing because state water laws do not recognize that surface water and groundwater are connected and interact. As a result the water in our lakes, rivers, and streams are regulated in a very different way than water…
Updated January 5, 2025. By Harold “Skip” Connett and Steve Box As more development converges in Bastrop County’s Wilbarger Bend, landowners are increasingly alarmed by its potential harm to the Lower Colorado River and the aquifers beneath it that they depend on for their livelihoods. A recent administrative court ruling in a requested contested case…
Colorado River water quality and location of The Boring Company, SpaceX, and Tesla gigaplant.
PUBLIC HEARING LCRA’s Groundwater Permit Application January 28, 2021 at 6-9 PM Hybrid Meeting Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District’s Board of Directors will hold a Public Hearing on January 28th from 6-9 pm. The meeting will be held at the Bastrop Convention & Exhibit Center with a virtual connection for public participation. For the District’s…
Environmental Stewardship requests Desired Future Conditions be adopted to protect the Colorado River and its tributaries from impacts of groundwater pumping Environmental Impact of Groundwater Pumping on the Colorado River and its Tributaries Environmental Stewardship’s Executive Director, Steve Box, presented a power point review of its request that Groundwater Management Area 12 establish standards to…
Environmental Stewardship provides scientific information on impacts on the Colorado River, aquifer formations, and exempt domestic wells. Groundwater pumping in the Simsboro formation of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer group affects the Colorado River and its tributaries, the Carrizo, Calvert Bluff and Hooper formations, other aquifers, and landowners’ domestic wells. Environmental Stewardship has been working with George…
Protestants admitted as parties to LCRA Contested Case Hearing at December 19th Prehearing Conference.
A hearing to determine party status of 127 individuals and organizations protesting LCRA’s application for a permit to pump groundwater from Bastrop County was held on December 19, 2018. The hearing was ordered by State Office of Administrative Hearing Law Judges (ALJs) Michael J. O’Malley and Laura M. Valdez.
Environmental Stewardship and a group of 43 landowners were admitted as parties to the contested case hearing to be held next fall. Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, Aqua Water Supply Corporation, City of Elgin, and Recharge Water, LP, along with 12 unrepresented landowners were also admitted. To ensure that all parties have a justiciable interest, each entity and individual is required to file an affidavit no later than February 9, 2019 (Order 2). Any objections to party status must be filed no later than February 19, 2019.
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BASTROP – A state district judge in Bastrop on Wednesday heard arguments for and against the contention that four landowners are entitled to a new hearing because they were wrongfully excluded by the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District from participating in a 2013 administrative hearing.
The 2013 hearing resulted in a permit to water marketer End-Op LP (now known as Recharge Water) that allows massive amounts of groundwater to be pumped and exported from Lee and Bastrop counties. The Oct. 18 hearing was part of a legal challenge to that permit.
Judge Carson Campbell ruled in favor of the landowners from the bench Wednesday on the question of whether he even has the authority to review the District’s decision to exclude them. A ruling on the landowners’ right to protest the permit is pending from Judge Campbell.
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Environmental Stewardship became a Waterkeeper Affiliate organization on September 23, 2016. As a new Waterkeeper Affiliate, Environmental Stewardship works to protect and preserve the Texas Colorado River, associated aquifers, and the bays and estuaries of the Texas Gulf Coast by combining its first-hand knowledge of the waterway with an unwavering commitment to the rights of the community, to ecological health of waterways and aquifers, and to the rule of law.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Steve Box in Austin, TX.
“Waterkeeper Alliance is thrilled to have Steve Box, Executive Director, to be the eyes, ears, and voice for this vital watershed and community,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance. “Every community deserves to have swimmable, drinkable, fishable and flowing water, and Mr. Box is the right leader to fight to protect the surface water and groundwater supplies in the Colorado River basin.”
For more information on see our webpage ES’ Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliation. …
New Group Launches Fight To Protect Local Groundwater and Aquifers
Bastrop County Court House
ELGIN – Veterans of a long-standing fight to protect the area’s groundwater have joined forces and launched a new organization to help lead that effort.
The new group, the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF), includes volunteers from the League of Independent Voters, Environmental Stewardship, Sierra Club and Neighbors for Neighbors.
SEE END OF THIS POST FOR LINKS TO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
SAWDF response to Bastrop Advertiser’s misleading article on July 21, 2016.
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