Natural Outlook, Winter 2010 Page: 2
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to resolve problems with the district.
If that is not possible, it may enter
into a formal compliance agreement
with the district and set a schedule by
which it must work toward achieving
compliance. If the issue is still not
resolved, the TCEQ can pursue formal
enforcement proceedings up to and
including district dissolution. This final
step occurs rarely.
Regional Planning Now Required
Texas has nine major and 21 minor
aquifers. In 2005, Texas legislation re-
quired districts to work together within
their particular GMA to determine the
desired future condition of their shared
aquifer. These conditions must be ad-
opted no later than Sept. 1, 2010, and
must be reviewed every five years.
Through this coordinated effort,
the districts will compare notes on
their plans and water usage with thegoal of determining how they want
the aquifer to look in 50 years. The
TWDB will take this information and,
through its groundwater availability
modeling, determine what the projected
groundwater use for each district and
each management area should be. This
information will help districts under-
stand how they need to regulate the
drilling and permitting of water wells.
"Once the desired future condition
is adopted and the managed availability
is calculated, then the districts will
need to amend their water management
plans and rules to try to achieve the
future conditions," Mills says.
The information compiled by dis-
tricts through this coordinated effort
will in turn inform regional water
planning and be rolled into the state
water plan developed by the TWDB.
When determining desired future
conditions, each district must studythe best way to balance its particular
groundwater needs with the need to
protect their aquifer.
Districts Educate Users, Receive
Information, through Alliance
Greg Ellis, executive director of the
Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts,
says public education and outreach by
districts to their water users has helped
conserve and protect the resource.
"We've definitely had an impact
on reducing the total amount of water
consumed," Ellis says. "We're not only
using education programs to stretch
groundwater supplies so that they last
longer, but to ensure that groundwater
is not contaminated."
Education of alliance members is
also important. The group works to
make certain that districts have current
information about issues and activities
relevant to groundwater management,- 2 lIE
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NATURAL OUTLOOK-WINTER 20102
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Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Natural Outlook, Winter 2010, periodical, 2010; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth576086/m1/4/?rotate=90: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.