Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 128, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 1, 2014 Page: 4 of 25
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4A» Thursday, May 1, 2014 • Hondo Anvil Herald
Major water shortage forecast for city
By William Hoover
Anvil Herald Correspondent
City Manager Jeff Litch-
field on Monday told Hon-
do City Council the city will
most likely have to acquire
more groundwater rights
to meet projected demand
for the year because of
anticipated pumping re-
ductions by the Edwards
Aquifer Authority. In light
of the ongoing drought, he
projected this year’s EAA
reductions would cause
the city’s pumping allot-
ment to be cut by around
902 acre-feet.
The city currently has 14
EAA permits allowing for an
annual unrestricted pump-
ing allotment of 2,607.771
acre-feet of groundwater
rights. The city also has 155
acre-feet of water available
from the 880 acre-foot air-
port irrigation permit that
could be converted to mu-
nicipal use.
“The drought has con-
tinued into the first part
of 2014 and right now we
do not see a definitive end
in sight,” said Litchfield.
“Because of the serious-
ness of the situation, we
plan to start providing you
a report at the first council
meeting of the month.”
Litchfield said he believes
there is a good chance the
aquifer level at the J-17 in-
dex well will dip below 625
feet this year, triggering the
EAA’s new Stage 5 critical
period and its onerous 44%
pumping reductions.
“The aquifer could also
end the year near the 630
foot Stage 4 trigger, which
means it would be hover-
ing between Stage 3 and
Stage 4 restrictions,” he
added. “Reductions to city
permits could cause us to
not have enough water to
cover our projected use.”
To protect the city and
city water customers, Li-
tchfield told council he
would continue to moni-
tor aquifer levels to see
how the annual water fore-
cast fluctuates. The city’s
Water Conservation Plan,
which follows EAA guide-
lines, outlines the dates
and times when watering
is allowed in Hondo.
“We think we might have
to impose additional re-
strictions and/or procure
additional water once the
probability of the deficit is
greater,” he said.
In 2013, the J-17 well was
a little above 650 feet and
ended the year at 640 acre-
feet, meaning the well lev-
el started 2014 a good 10 to
12 feet below where it was
the previous two years, ac-
cording to Litchfield.
“We can’t find anyone
who thinks the Edwards
Aquifer will be up at the end
of the year,” he said. “I can
understand that because of
the risks associated. If I was
the EAA and I made a pro-
jection and it didn’t come
true, you would expect me
to pay for that.”
“In the current year, the
J-17 well started at 640 feet
and we are still around 640,”
he said with the aquifer’s
10-day average level cur-
rently at around 638.4 feet.
To project water usage
through the end of the
year, Litchfield said he is
assuming this year’s trends
will mimic last year.
“We are projecting we
will never rise into Stage 1,
but there will be 120 days
when we are in Stage 2,
which requires 30% pump-
ing reductions,” he said.
“That reduces our allot-
ment by 274.368 acre-feet.
We think we will be in Stage
3 for 157 days, which cal-
culates to a 392.618 reduc-
tion. We think we will be in
Stage 4 for 56 days, and the
40% reduction would take
another 116.03 acre-feet.”
“Then the prediction is
for 24 days we’d be in Stage
5, with a 44% reduction,
giving us another 75.45
acre-feet reduction,” he
added. “That means we
could experience a 902.485
acre-foot reduction or a
total of 34.61% pumping
reduction. That would re-
duce our annual allotment
to 1,705 acre-feet.”
Allowing for a 4% vari-
ance above and below last
year’s actual usage, the city
would have a water defi-
cit of somewhere between
25.87 to 170.13 acre-feet.
Ideally, the city would buy,
lease or somehow acquire
another 200 acre-feet of
pumping rights to make it
through the year, accord-
ing to Litchfield.
“If circumstances do
not change, the city will
either need to reduce wa-
ter pumped and/or pro-
cure more water,” he told
council. “The airport owns
155 acre-feet of water they
could lease to the city. If
we have 35% pumping re-
strictions, that could bring
the 155 acre-feet down to
just around 100 acre-feet.”
To reduce the amount of
water pumped out of the
ground, Litchfield said the
city has numerous options.
“We can provide water
conservation education,
we can enforce our Water
Conservation Ordinance,
we can tighten our Water
Conservation Plan limits,
and we can increase efforts
to find and fix leaks in our
water system,” he said.
“In conclusion, we are
saying unless a significant
County's audit gets high marks;
subdivision modification okayed
By Jamie Kindred
Anvil Herald Staff
Medina County Commis-
sioners met Monday and tack-
led a long list of agenda items.
First up was the outside audit
for Fiscal Year ending Septem-
ber 30,2013. John Manning of
Pattillo, Brown and Hill pre-
sented the audit findings.
“The financial findings
and controls were accurately
stated, and we are rendering
what we call an unqualified
opinion. Of the four types of
opinions we can give, it is the
highest level we can give,”
Manning explained. “We see
the fruits of your labor in sta-
bility, so to speak. Essentially
a very good audit.”
Commissioners were sat-
isfied with the report. Judge
Jim Barden commented, “It
was a great audit. We will note
on record we will receive it as
there is no action needed.”
On behalf of Potranco
Ranch Subdivision, David Earl
approached the court seeking
approval for proposed chang-
es in the master development
plan of Potranco Ranch Sub-
division. The change involved
the addition of a 33-acre park
located toward the back of the
subdivision.
“This park is an open space
park with wildlife feeders and
trail system throughout. It in-
creases green space and gives
folks a place to come together. It
also provides a habitat for wild-
life,” said Earl. “This park would
give a sanctuary for wildlife and
allows a safe place for kids to
play, as it will be a private park
in this gated community.”
After fielding questions from
the audience, Earl concluded
with a final comment, “This
park is not in a flood plain as
there are drainage transitions
through natural lows and out
the back end of the subdivi-
sion which also provides a
natural filtration system.”
Judge Barden ended dis-
cussion, noting, “The HOA of
Potranco Ranch Subdivision
unanimously supports the
change to the subdivision,
and requests approval of this
change. This is not a platting
change, it just replaces some
proposed units.” Commis-
sioners approved the pro-
posed changed to create a
park in the master plan of the
Potranco Ranch Subdivision.
Chief Juvenile Probation
Officer Linette Dury ap-
proached the court asking
for approval of the Basic Use
Agreement with the Texas Ju-
venile Justice Department for
permitting Medina County to
use JCMS Basic in a hosted
domain. “This is basically a
software update that helps
us track juveniles throughout
the state,” Dury explained.
She also asked the court to
consider approval of the Mu-
tual Non-Disclosure Agree-
ments for Tech share. Juvenile
and JCMS.Basic for Juvenile
Probation. Both agreements
received approval.
Adoption of a Resolution
in support of a Constitution-
al Amendment increasing
funding for transportation
throughout the State of Texas
got the nod from commis-
sioners.
Dr. Robert Fitzgerald
asked, “How will this reso-
lution benefit our county
roads?” Barden responded,
“It will not contribute direcdy
to the county roads; the only
contribution will be to the
lateral road fund.”
In other news:
• Commissioners approved
an agreement for Merchant
Payment Card Processing for
the district’s clerk’s office. Ap-
proval was also granted for the
Agreement of Court Payment
Processing for the courts
served by the county clerk’s
office and for the Chase Pay-
mentech payment processing
instmctions and guidelines
for county clerk e-filing.
• Commissioners approved
a service agreement with
D’Hanis Volunteer Fire Dept.
• Proposals to repair win-
dows and doors on the east
and south sides of the Devine
County Building were dis-
cussed. Precinct 2 Commis-
sioner Larry Sittre moved to
accept all three proposals and
allow Pet. 4 Commissioner,
Jerry Beck to use his discre-
tion to choose a proposal.
Beck said he would choose
Carroll and Carroll’s proposal.
• Commissioner Sittre
moved to support the consti-
tutional amendment increas-
ing funding for transporta-
tion throughout the State of
Texas and it passed.
• Commissioners autho-
rized and approved the resto-
ration and encapsulation of
68 volumes for the deed and
birth records in the County
Clerk’s office for the proposed
sum of $75,000.
• Commissioners unani-
mously approved establish-
ing a speed limit on all por-
tions of County Roads 4631,
4632 and 4634, located in Pet.
1. These roads are located
in Oak Valley in Dunlay. The
speed limits are: 35 mph on
CR 4631, and 30 mph on CR
4634 and CR4632.
• The Commissioners Court
meeting originally scheduled
for Mon., May 26, has been
moved to Tues., May 27, due
to the county’s observance of
Memorial Day.
rain event happens that
increases the water level
in the aquifer, there is a
high probability the City
of Hondo will need to pro-
cure the available water
from the airport. There is
also a good probability ad-
ditional water will need to
be obtained from an out-
side source—unless we are
able to reduce consump-
tion by emphasizing our
Water Conservation Plan.”
“We plan to provide
council with monthly re-
ports on the water situa-
tion and will continue to
do so until the drought
ends,” he added.
Even though the city up-
dated the Water Conserva-
tion Plan last year, Litch-
field said the plan needs to
be brought back to council
and amended to include
provisions for the EAA’s
new Stage 5 restrictions.
“We know it is going to be
a tough year unless this dry
weather pattern breaks,”
he said. “We’ve had tre-
mendous snows and rains
along the east coast, but
it is just not coming here.
I hate to bring such dire
news, but you need to be
aware and I trust our citi-
zens will be made aware
through our local press.”
“This is not good news,
but it is good news we are
monitoring the situation,”
said Mayor Jim Danner af-
ter the presentation.
In other business, coun-
cil changed the zoning of a
recently annexed drainage
channel to Residential Es-
tate and then annexed Dr.
Richard Rowland’s neigh-
boring 2.545-acre residen-
tial lot into the city.
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Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 128, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 1, 2014, newspaper, May 1, 2014; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth739776/m1/4/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hondo Public Library.