Title
Receive report from Omar Garcia, Water Resources Manager, regarding Edwards Aquifer 2021 Critical Period Management, permitted groundwater authorization and reported use.
Body
STAFF RECOMMENDED MOTION:
None. This item is for discussion purposes only.
SUMMARY:
The purpose of this agenda item is for the board to receive a report from Omar Garcia, Water Resources Manager, regarding 2021 groundwater withdrawal permits, reported usage by permit holders, and a review of 2021 critical period management (CPM), where groundwater withdrawal interruptions were made to applicable permit holders in the San Antonio pool of the Edwards Aquifer.
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, “annual use” is calculated. 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 2021 in the San Antonio Pool of the Edwards Aquifer.
2021 Critical Period Management:
In 2021, declining water levels as measured at the Bexar County Index Well (J-17) and springflow measurements at Comal springs combined to trigger EAA’s CPM program for a total of 99 days in the San Antonio pool of the Edwards Aquifer. CPM conditions entered Stage 1 during four periods, from February 21 to March 3 (11 days); from March 24 to April 18 (26 days); April 30 to May 6 (7 days); and September 1 to October 14 (44 days); and entered Stage 2 during one period, from April 19 - to April 29 (11 days) resulting in an overall reduction of 5.71% to applicable permit holders (Municipal and Industrial permit holders, and Irrigation permits holders who did not file Notices of Intent to Finish Out a Crop).
Water levels at the Uvalde Index Well (J-27) remained above CPM thresholds during all of 2021. Therefore, no CPM conditions were declared in the Uvalde Pool of the Edwards Aquifer.
2021 Groundwater Use Permits:
In 2021, EAA records show 1,232 groundwater permit holders held 2,121 individual permits to withdraw a total of 571,599 acre-feet from the Edwards Aquifer. Based on CPM conditions, reductions were made to applicable permits, resulting in a reduction of 27,232 acre-feet, thus a total of 544,36 acre-feet were available for use. A breakdown, by permitted use in acre-feet (rounded), is as follows:
Use # of Permits Permitted CPM Reduced Available for Use
Municipal 571 349,237 19,764 329,473
Industrial 401 42,461 2,385 40,076
Irrigation 1,149 179,901 5,083 174,818
2021 Reported Groundwater withdrawals:
Reported groundwater use totaled 306,607 acre-feet of metered withdrawals from the Edwards Aquifer in 2021. This usage equates to about 56% of the total groundwater available for use in 2021. A breakdown, by permitted use in acre-feet (rounded), is as follows:
Use Available for Use Pumped % of Authorized
Municipal 329,473 206,580 62.7%
Industrial 40,076 25,744 64.2%
Irrigation 174,818 74,283 42.4%
2021 withdrawals represent a 35,849 acre-foot decrease from 2020 use, and a 32,896 acre-foot decrease from the pumping 10-year rolling average of 339,503 acre-feet (2011-2021).
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
This agenda item helps build and/or create Assuredness in Regulatory Programming - a key objective in achieving the EAA’s goals identified in the 2021-30 Strategic Plan.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This section is not relevant to this item.