The county’s groundwater district approved up to $500 in partnerships with two local organizations working to clear out a littered Kendall County karst cave.
When the Cow Greek Groundwater Conservation District board of directors learned of a sink hole on a new county resident’s land littered with trash, the directors looked to partner with both the South Texas Geological Society and Bexar Grotto to help clean up the access point to the county’s water supply.
CCGCD Ground water technician Heath Hoffman said staff met with a member of the geological society at the site and climbed down the 20-foot ladder into the cave. It became clear it was something the society could clear out. However, assistance from CCGCD was sought to help fund a roll-off dumpster to get rid of any trash that comes out of the karst feature.
“Personally, I think it’s a really good idea where we have a situation where a landowner comes to us with a recharge feature they know has been compromised,” CCGCD President Milan Michalec said.
Hoffman said the funding for a roll-off dumpster could come for the district’s education fund or water quality fund in the district’s budget. Hoffman also said the district’s general manager, Micah Voulgaris, who was absent during the spring break meeting, was in support of the groundwater district’s involvement.
The polluted karst feature was brought to the groundwater district’s attention during the directors’ February meeting when Voulgaris was approached by the landowner, who wished to remain anonymous. Voulgaris said the landowner was concerned the polluted sinkhole was a liability because it was polluting the aquifer, but Voulgaris said the groundwater dis-trict didn’t have any policy or procedure to handle this kind of situation.
Voulgaris suspected the sinkhole was a dumping spot for a previous ranch owner, saying a 20-foot ladder leading into the hole left staff unable to see beyond the trash. Before the directors and staff got involved, Voulgaris said there were bags of trash outside the sinkhole when staff went to an initial inspection.
While CCGCD Vice President Bob Webster seemed initially hesitant to jump into volunteering the district’s services during the district’s February meeting – noting he would like to know what kind of trash is coming out of the sinkhole because he’d be more concerned about motor oil containers than beer bottles – he seemed to change his tune by the district’s March meeting. However, all of Webster’s concerns had not evaporated.
Webster questioned whether the district would be liable for any injury or damage that occurred in the efforts to clear out the karst cave, asking if the district needed to obtain insurance for additional protection. Hoffman said liability really would fall on Bexar Grotto and the organizations volunteering to go down into the sinkhole.
Hoffman said a former firefighter volunteering in the efforts planned to build a rig that would allow those inside the cave to haul trash up without having to move up and down the 20-foot ladder lugging garbage. He added this would reduce the risk of injury for those volunteering their time and energy.
Before the groundwater district directors approved up to $500 to provide a roll-off dumpster for the efforts, Hoffman pointed out detailed planning went into the proposal to the directors. He said a quote was obtained to avoid the “extremely variable” market that Webster addressed with dumpsters. Further, Hoffman said placement of the dumpster was considered, saying they didn’t want the dumpster too close to the karst feature nor too close to the road where passersby would be filling it up.
In the end, the directors approved up to $500 to fund a roll-off dumpster for the project, despite there being no action item on the district’s agenda.
After the vote was cast, Precinct 4 Director Curt Campbell asked if the landowner had considered putting in a conservation easement around the karst feature after all the efforts to clean it out were done. Hoffman said the landowner talked about adding grates to keep larger animals out while still allowing bats and smaller rodents in, but the conversation never went as far as a conservation easement.
“No, he didn’t say anything about any kind of easement like that,” Hoffman said. “I don’t know if that’s something we want to ask him. Obviously, he would have to disclose it if nobody saw it. It’s pretty easy to see. It’s kind of hard to miss when you go on the property. So, if it did change hands, I think we still have our rules preventing people from filling them up.”
Campbell said it would still be nice to have that additional protection, such as putting a deed restriction on the feature preventing anyone from doing anything within a certain number of feet that could pollute it.
“I get it,” Campbell said. “But I also wonder long term what the viability of our rules are if we get our feet cut out from under us from the legislature on our power. A deed restriction travels with the land regardless of what happens to us.”
Precinct 3 Director Ben Eldredge suggested the district could bring the conservation easement concept to the landowner without it being a contingency on helping get the sinkhole cleaned up. Additionally, he said the district could help the landowner get grants to fund a conservation easement, reminding the directors that the cost of getting such an easement often deters landowners.
The land-owner was concerned the polluted sinkhole was a liability because it was polluting the aquifer.
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