There may be another hitch in the plan to connect the impending Corley Farms subdivision to water as it’s been confirmed Edwards Aquifer water enters the San Antonio Water Systems access point.
Corley Farms is also known as WCID 3 as a water district was formed in 2017 by what has been labeled controversial state legislation after the city of Boerne denied water utility hookup to the sprawling development. The development is also often referred to as Boernebak on city council agendas as it’s being developed by commercial developer Phil Bakke.
During a countywide water committee meeting late last month, Donovan Burton, vice president of water resources and governmental relations for SAWS, said the storage tank tied to a Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority pipeline is intended to serve the 370-acre tract. GBRA water is often referred to as Canyon Lake water by public officials.
Officials said this creates a legal issue as the 1993 legislation that created the Edwards Aquifer Authority, which oversees the management and protection of the Edwards Aquifer, also limited the sale of Edwards water outside of the agency’s set boundaries which encompasses several counties wholly and partially, including Uvalde, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Atascosa, Hays and Caldwell.
This creates a legal grey area where it’s unclear whether the hookup itself meets the parameters set forth by the 1990s legislation. But Burton said the water district will continue to tie into the Canyon Lake tank. Burton said if the company is not granted legislative “relief” allowing it to use Edwards water outside of the EAA boundaries, the water district will continue to be served by the GBRA tank.
However, Burton said a lack of legislative change would mean the SAWS wholesale agreement with WCID 3 would have to end when the GBRA contract with SAWS comes to an end in 2037.
The message from Burton during the meeting and an EAA representative at a previous water committee meeting was loud and clear: The agencies will be seeking legislative changes again in upcoming state sessions.
Previous attempts have been made to allow the sale of Edwards water outside the existing EAA boundaries as recently as 2019.
The initial SAWS wholesale agreement with WCID 3 ultimately resulted in the filing of two state legislative drafts in 2019 in the House and Senate – House Bill 1806, filed by Texas Rep. Tracy King, and Senate Bill 1170, filed by Texas Sen. Donna Campbell – which attempted to allow the sale of Edwards water outside of the EAA boundaries.
HB 1806 and SB 1170 read: “A municipally owned utility owned by the city of San Antonio may sell water withdrawn from the aquifer at wholesale to a retail public utility or river authority for use in a county adjacent to the boundaries of the authority.”
While the bills nearly were codified, after passing both chambers of state Congress, a letter from the Cow Creek Groundwater District to Gov. Greg Abbott led to the legislation being vetoed, and Edwards water remained where it was.
With the discussions about future water use and SAWS and EAA reps indicating an intent to seek legislative change again, public pushback against such change already has begun.
“This was followed by a SAWS representative who provided a number of significant revelations to include that this water system mixes water from multiple sources,” CCGCD President Milan Michalec said to the Boerne City Council in April, speaking on a previous water committee. “Locally, this meant water from the Edwards Aquifer would be part of the blend, making it illegal to use in Kendall County.
“Then came an ask to change to this law through a coalition, specifically a group led primarily by Boerne and the Edwards Aquifer Authority. From my experience studying the history of local groundwater issues, this would destabilize an existing water market and risk the blunt axe of federal intervention that was instrumental in the creation of the EAA.”
CCGCD officials and staff have opposed legislative change allowing the sale of Edwards water into Kendall County, noting that the EAA was created out of and continues to operate as an underground water district. Should the EAA expand into the county, it was noted there would be competing groundwater district jurisdiction, which is illegal by state law.
Should the Edwards Aquifer Authority expand into Kendall County, it was noted there would be competing groundwater district jurisdiction, which is illegal by state law.
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