Title
Receive report from EAA staff regarding Edwards Aquifer 2018 permitted groundwater use and associated Critical Period Management.
Body
STAFF RECOMMENDED MOTION:
This item is for discussion purposes only. No action required.
SUMMARY:
The purpose of this agenda item is for the Permits/Enforcement Committee to receive a report from EAA staff regarding 2018 groundwater withdrawals reported by permit holders, and a review of 2018 critical period management (CPM), where groundwater withdrawal interruptions were made to applicable permit holders in the San Antonio pool of the Edwards Aquifer.
Background:
EAA rules require all non-exempt withdrawals to be metered and authorized for use within a calendar year. At the end of each year, permit holders are required to file annual use reports with the EAA, which must include as a minimum a beginning-year and an ending-year meter reading. From these readings, a calculated “annual use” is made. EAA staff reviews these reports, verifies the annual use calculation, and compares validated annual use to each permit holder’s annual authorized withdrawal amount. Authorized withdrawal amounts were affected by CPM reductions in 2018 in the San Antonio pool of the Edwards Aquifer.
2018 Reported Groundwater withdrawals:
A preliminary review of EAA records show that 1,278 EAA groundwater permit holders reported a total of 352,275 acre-feet of metered withdrawals from Edwards Aquifer wells in 2018. A breakdown, by permit type, is as follows:
Industrial Permits: 293 permit holders withdrew 23,214 acre-feet
Municipal Permits: 171 permit holders withdrew 245,093 acre-feet
Irrigation Permits: 814 permit holders withdrew 83,968 acre-feet
These 2018 withdrawals represent a 7,654 af decrease from 2017 use, and a 6,174 af decrease from the average use over the period 1999-2017.
2018 Critical Period Management:
In 2018, declining water levels as measured at the Bexar County Index Well (J-17) and springflow measurements at C...
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