Title
Consider recommendation from the Permits/Enforcement Committee to approve Proposed Rules related to proposed changes to EAA Critical Period Management rules regarding Notices of Intent to Finish Out a Crop.
Body
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
Move the board approve the Proposed Rules to amend the following chapters of the Edwards Aquifer Authority Rules, including any necessary renumbering of current rules due to the proposed amendments, and authorize the General Manager to take all actions required by law to process these Proposed Rules:
Chapter 715 (Comprehensive Water Management)
Subchapter E (Critical Period Management Plan)
SUMMARY:
The purpose of this agenda item is for the board to consider a Permits/Enforcement Committee recommendation and take possible action on a set of Proposed Rules that would amend the following Chapters and Subchapters of the EAA rules:
Chapter 715 (Comprehensive Water Management)
Subchapter E (Critical Period Management Plan)
Under the EAA Act and current EAA rules, "notwithstanding the existence of any stage of ... critical period ... a person authorized to withdraw groundwater from the aquifer for irrigation purposes shall, without regard to the withdrawal reductions prescribed for that stage, be allowed to finish a crop already planted in the calendar year during which the critical period is in effect." Under this provision, an irrigator is allowed to irrigate under less restrictive reductions until a planted crop is harvested (at which time full reductions are applied to his or her permit).
As EAA staff administered this process through multi-year droughts, it has become apparent that the calculations and paperwork required to properly account for irrigation practices are burdensome and complicated for irrigators and staff alike. Consequently, irrigators have come to rely upon staff to guide them through the process at almost every stage of implementation.
As early as the 2013 Board of Directors Work Session, EAA s...
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