San Patricio County residents: Vote tomorrow

[sinton66]

Do any of you know anything about HB3568 by Seaman that would establish a San Patricio County Groundwater District? The vote is on May 12th. Someone left a dissortation on my door this week urging the defeat of this bill. Just wondering if any of you have any information on this. I haven't seen anything about it in the papers.

[SintonFan]

Originally posted by sinton66
Do any of you know anything about HB3568 by Seaman that would establish a San Patricio County Groundwater District? The vote is on May 12th. Someone left a dissortation on my door this week urging the defeat of this bill. Just wondering if any of you have any information on this. I haven't seen anything about it in the papers.
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I voted against the last one in the late 90's, but I'm not sure about this one.:confused:

[Chopblock]

basically what they do is establish thses districts to protect groundwater resources, one of the prblems I have with them is that under state law, the Right Of Capture a landowner is entitled to acre feet of water ( I own 380 acres in Bastrop County, Im entitled to 380 acre ft of water a year)
They have the right in these districts to regulate how much water you can use a day out of a well
They have their good points and bad points

[AP Panther Fan]

I guess I need to learn more about this since it directly affects me. Is there a threat of groundwater shortage in our area? I am probably delusional, but I always thought it replenished itself rather quickly. Perhaps an extended drought period would cause problems...:thinking:

I have always enjoyed being able to water even when the city was restricting usage.

[sinton66]

As I understand this, the big ranchers in our area are opposing this. The stuff I read says that Corpus Christi is trying to form one also. There are areas of San Patricio county they would share authority over if we pass ours. If we don't, guess what. Corpus is the sole authority if theirs passes.

Our directors will be unpaid to start, and they aren't going to tax right away. They say they want to wait until they find out how expensive one of these things is to run. When and if they do tax, it will be capped at 5 cents on the hundred. Most of the eventual operating funds will come from usage fees.

I heard the ranchers are against it because they sell water to oil companies, etc. From what I've read, the regulations and usage fees will not apply to individual households on wells.

[SintonFan]

Originally posted by sinton66
As I understand this, the big ranchers in our area are opposing this. The stuff I read says that Corpus Christi is trying to form one also. There are areas of San Patricio county they would share authority over if we pass ours. If we don't, guess what. Corpus is the sole authority if theirs passes.

Our directors will be unpaid to start, and they aren't going to tax right away. They say they want to wait until they find out how expensive one of these things is to run. When and if they do tax, it will be capped at 5 cents on the hundred. Most of the eventual operating funds will come from usage fees.

I heard the ranchers are against it because they sell water to oil companies, etc. From what I've read, the regulations and usage fees will not apply to individual households on wells.
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I think I'm gonna vote for it. I can't tell you(yes I can, I can count about 10 in Western San Pat County) how many houses out in the country have had to drill deeper for the first time in up to 50 years because of the big wells pouring millions of gallons of water for more than just irrigation. I think it's time for this and the leadership in this looks good.