Domestic and agricultural wells will benefit most from district
By Glenn Smith Jr. | Published Sunday, August 24, 2008
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (UTGCD), I would like to clarify several statements made in your recent article about the UTGCD.
First and foremost, studies have shown that the Upper Trinity Aquifer is declining at one of the fastest rates of all aquifers in the State. This fact lead to the creation of the UTGCD in the last state legislative session. The legislation that created the Upper Trinity GCD, Senate Bill 1983, requires that this Ddistrict operate from setting a usage/production fee for groundwater and it is not allowed to impose a tax. Therefore, the only funding tool available to the UTGCD is a usage/ production fee.
Under Rule 2.1 (a) (1) of the Temporary Rules adopted by the UTGCD on Aug. 18 the following wells are exempt from any requirement to meter, report or pay a production fee: "All wells, existing or new, of any size or capacity used solely for domestic use, livestock use, poultry use or agricultural irrigation use."
Therefore, a person's private water well used solely for providing their own drinking water and other domestic uses or for the watering of livestock or poultry are exempt from the payment of a fee, the installation of a meter and the requirement to report their usage to the district.
Wells used by water suppliers, municipalities, commercial operations and wells used by the oil and gas industry will be subject to a production fee. The vast majority of these wells are already metered and report their usage to the state. The oil and gas industry water wells have not been metered in the past but, thanks to this legislation, they will begin reporting their usage in 2009.
Beginning on January 1, 2009, all new wells will be required to comply with the well spacing rules and the minimum tract size listed in Rule 4.3 of the temporary rules. Depending upon the size of the casing in the well the spacing between wells will be from 150 feet for small wells to as much as 2,400 feet for the largest wells and the set back from the nearest property line will be from 50 feet for small wells to as much as 400 feet for the largest wells. This spacing will provide protection from new wells to all existing wells that are registered with the District starting on Jan. 1, 2009.
The oil and gas industry will have to comply with these same spacing requirements, reporting requirements, monitoring requirements, and fee payment requirements as any other municipal, industrial, commercial, manufacturing, or public water supply well under the currently adopted Temporary Rules.
Obviously no one likes new fees or regulations. However, the people who will gain the most from the temporary rules adopted by the UTGCD will be existing domestic or agricultural wells. They will be exempt from metering and fees and, if they register with the UTGCD, they will enjoy added protection from new wells afforded by the spacing rules.
Additionally, for the past four months the UTGCD has retained an engineer who reviews every application for a new injection well filed with the TCEQ and Railroad Commission. During this time various aspects of these wells have been changed to protect the aquifers.
The UTGCD has no choice about whether to adopt a fee but only a choice about how much that fee will be. The range of fees being considered would cost the average residential user (if supplied by a water supply company or a municipality using groundwater as its sole source) approximately $1.50 to $2 per month.
Glenn Smith Jr. serves as one of eight directors on the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District board. He and John Gibbon represent Wise County. The district, which was approved by voters last November, also includes Parker, Hood and Montague counties.
