Title
Consider recommendation from the Aquifer Management Planning Committee to approve the SAWS ASR Forbearance Contract Price Point.
Body
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
Move the board approve a $100 per acre-foot price point for the SAWS ASR Springflow Protection Program Forebearance Agreements in support of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan.
SUMMARY:
The purpose of this agenda item is for the board to consider an Aquifer Management Planning Committee recommendation to approve a $100 per acre-foot price point for the ASR Springflow Protection Program Forbearance Agreements in support of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (EAHCP). Staff has been considering changes to the the SAWS ASR Springflow Protection Program within the EAHCP since spring of 2017. On February 23, 2018, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service approved an adaptive management proposal amending the lease structure of the EAHCP program that would implement the following objectives:
1. Replace the current, three-tiered leasing structure with a two-tiered leasing structure that coordinates existing long-term leases with new long-term forbearance agreements (together providing control of the necessary 50,000 acre-feet per year of Edwards Aquifer groundwater); and
2. Exercise (trigger) forbearance in years following a recognition of the Ten-Year Rolling Average of the Estimated Annual Recharge to the Aquifer declining to amounts at or below 500,000 acre-feet per annum.
At the March 27 meeting of the Permits/Enforcement Committee, staff explained the contents of a template forbearance agreement designed to implement the program. The missing piece of information was the price per acre-foot to be paid under such an agreement. Staff considered multiple price point options during the development of the new program, but ultimately determined that the $100 per acre-foot price would most successfully fit within the demands of the market and the confines of the estimated budget contained wit...
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