is water shortage a concern (Spring, Wimberley: HOA, custom home, construction)

[Tom Williams 9]

when talking about Wimberley/Dripping Springs/ Buda and the rest of Hays
is water shortage a real worry or is it over blown

[achtungpv]

Back in the mid-90s, there were several custom homes in Wimberley/Dripping that weren't finished being built but their wells were already dry.

[HappyTexan]

Water shortage is always a concern. 2007 was a rather wet year so you didn't hear too much about it. But if we get into a dry spell, wells will start drying up again and we'll all be on restrictions.

It's a way of life in Texas.

[Trainwreck20]

Long-term, water will be the limiting issue in the Hill Country. Short-term, find land with good water and drill a well properly and you will not have a problem.

[Tom Williams 9]

are there no building restrictions in place to limit the burden on the aquifiers?

[Trainwreck20]

nope. There are some pretty comprehensive rules about how to drill, and you cannot negatively impact someone else's well by drilling yours, but the actually pumping rate is not really regulated very much. I know there was a catfish farm that was pumping something like 2 or 3 million gallons per day, and it was forced to close down, but I think it was more political pressure rather than rules.

[Zzyzx]

When we had the drought in 2006 and part of 2007 a lot of wells went dry in the hill country area therefore people had to pay a premium in order to have water delivered.

For me, I do live in the hill country, where we do NOT have a well, LCRA delivers our water to our community in Dripping Springs. Even though we don't have the concerns of a well, I do find the price they are charging us now with another 40% increase on the way extremely alarming. To be honest, this will probably be the last straw for us and we will sell in order to be in a more financially reasonable area.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by Tom Williams 9

are there no building restrictions in place to limit the burden on the aquifiers?

Counties in TX have virtually no authority over development. They control the county roads and that's about it. Some counties have set up subdivision development ordinances that are based on how they affect the roads like minimum distance between driveways but they are really limited in what they can do.

[IC_deLight]

1. Counties do have approval process over the subdivision. Newer subdivisions in Hays County are being approved only if they rely on surface water (e.g., LCRA,etc.) rather than groundwater. However, the primary authorities for regulating groundwater usage are groundwater districts - not counties.

2. In older subdivisions, there likely is no deed restriction prohibiting water wells. However, in newer subdivisions such a restriction may exist - particularly if there is a private water company vendor for the subdivision.

3. Much of Hays County falls under the purview of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation district. If you want a residential well, you will have to pay a registration fee, but approval is automatic. The approval is automatic, but there are certain construction and design requirements/limitations imposed on residential wells. Commercial wells must go through a permitting process and the permits must be renewed regularly to stay in business. (i.e., 1-3 years)

4. If you move into a subdivision with a private water company, make sure you have the option to drill a well. In some of these newer subdivisions, the developers don't want you to have alternatives to their water companies. They may not obligate you directly and you probably won't sign any contract that obligates you. The developer will impose restrictive covenants to prevent you from having any choices. At the same time, they bear no enforceable obligation to stay in business or provide sufficient water (you have no contract with them). So if you move into a subdivision with a private water company, you might make sure that you have the option to drill a well on your lot so that you can "opt out" of their little monopoly. Not having to drill a well is great as long as you are happy with the water company. Being prohibited from drilling a well under any circumstances is not.

5. Those private water companies must have permits approved by HTGCD and those permits can be denied. HTGCD's attitude is they are there to protect the aquifer and they don't care where else the private water company gets its water from. That's fine. Problem for the homeowner is that TCEQ does not obligate the water company to seek alternative sources if HTGCD says they can't have more groundwater. This really isn't about individual homeowners consuming more water if they have wells, it's about being independent of these developer controlled water companies. For groundwater-based subdivisions, it's not about whether the water is coming out of the ground - it's about whose straw you must acquire it from.

6. Although drilling a well is expensive and not without risks, consider that you are over a barrel and have no negotiating power with the private water company unless you have an alternative to that vendor. True water rates are regulated by TCEQ, but TCEQ doesn't do a very good job of enforcing penalties against the private water companies.

7. If the private water company seeks to build out additional infrastructure (e.g., a developer decides to add another phase to the subdivision) the water company can charge the modification/extensions costs to ALL of its customers. You want the option to not be one of those customers.

8. So if you are looking at rural property with private water companies- particularly groundwater-based subdivisions - see if there are restrictive covenants prohibiting wells or perhaps whether the owners have obtained approvals or variances to permit residential wells. It's quite possible that either by design or the approval process, some of the lots would be permitted to have residential wells while others are not. Also you need to do your due diligence with the actual lot owner and title records - not the HOA which may well be controlled by the developer. Representatives from the HOA might tell you "no" when in fact not all lots are prohibited.