Why aren't we protecting all of the Edwards Aquifer? (Austin: construction, activities)

[CptnRn]

Southwest Austin and Travis County get a lot of heat for development in an environmentally sensitive area.

Did you know that most of Georgetown and Round Rock, Texas is in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge and Contributing Zones? Most people don't.

Warning: This pdf map of the Georgetown areas is slow to load.
http://georgetown.org/gis/gis_pdfmap...rdsAquifer.pdf

For that matter so is most of Williamson County. In fact there is more land area in Williamson County in those zones then there is in Travis County. The same is true of Bell County and large portions of Burnet and Lampasas Counties.



Protecting the Edwards Aquifer - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.state.tx.us (http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/comm_exec/forms_pubs/pubs/pd/020/08-01/protectingtheedwardsaquifer.html - broken link)

The only reason so many people are aware of it in Travis County is that the City of Austin makes an effort to minimize and mitigate the development impact on the aquifer here. I never hear anything about the communities in Georgetown, Round Rock or any of the other's in Williamson County doing anything significant to protect the aquifer. Why is that?

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

I never knew much about that particular aquifer. Thank you, thank you for the information and the great question!

[atxcio]

What's with the gap in the aquifer in northern Travis county? It's the only place where it seems to be non-continuous. What kind of geographic feature would interrupt an aquifer zone like that? Is it Lake Travis or something?

[TexasHorseLady]

CptnRon, apparently the City of Georgetown permits department does take it into account. Also, you may be unaware of the requirements that Georgetown established a few years back for development west of I35 that seriously impacted some planned developments for just that reason.

It was in the news, but I suspect that most folks in Austin wouldn't have paid much attention to it since it was in Georgetown. I'll see if I can find something from that time.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Even Hutto gets some of it's water from the Edwards aquifer. "Superior" rating with water means they meet all the "minimum standards". Hmmm, wonder what the minimum standards are. Does that apply to every drinking source? In other words, I'm wondering if that is the norm as far as standards go. Lot's to learn. Hopefully this thread can get some input from more people "in the know".

Taylor Water - Treatment plant offers residents superior water (http://impactnews.com/georgetown-hutto-taylor/143-local-news/1456-taylor-water-treatment-plant-offers-residents-superior-water - broken link)

[TexasHorseLady]

CptnRon, you might find this Regulatory History of the Edwards Aquifer interesting.

From it:

Upon petition by local government, construction activities in portions of Williamson County became regulated in 1986. Then in 1990, construction in portions of Travis County was first regulated.

This follows, of course, regulation in other areas - when the Texas Water Quality Board first issued regulations in 1970, only six counties were included, and those were Kinney, Uvalde, Medina, Bexar, Comal, and Hays. I find it interesting, from the above quote, that Williamson County evidently sked for regulations before Travis County did. Travis County just makes a lot more noise about it when they do.

[verybadgnome]

From Wiki: "Today, SOS works with groups in the larger Edwards Region with a collective goal of conserving the Greater Edwards Aquifer Ecosystem, which is now chartered in the "Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan."

[G Grasshopper]

Here's a USGS "Edwards Aquifer Viewer" reference: " + theTitle + "

I don't know enough about the geology of the area to understand why the northern and southern areas are not continuous. The break seems to follow the river and includes central Austin. Anyone know about this?

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

http://www.esi.utexas.edu/outreach/c...wardsGuide.pdf

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/geo/balcon...t/preface.html


Found more interesting links.

[eepstein]

Environmentally sensative area. Are you kidding me?? It's the hillbilly country, not the great rocky mountains. So explain to me how when you goto just about any park area west of Austin in the hillbilly country, it's litered with cig butts and beer cans???

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Southwest Austin and Travis County get a lot of heat for development in an environmentally sensitive area.

Did you know that most of Georgetown and Round Rock, Texas is in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge and Contributing Zones? Most people don't.

Warning: This pdf map of the Georgetown areas is slow to load.
http://georgetown.org/gis/gis_pdfmap...rdsAquifer.pdf

For that matter so is most of Williamson County. In fact there is more land area in Williamson County in those zones then there is in Travis County. The same is true of Bell County and large portions of Burnet and Lampasas Counties.



Protecting the Edwards Aquifer - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.state.tx.us (http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/comm_exec/forms_pubs/pubs/pd/020/08-01/protectingtheedwardsaquifer.html - broken link)

The only reason so many people are aware of it in Travis County is that the City of Austin makes an effort to minimize and mitigate the development impact on the aquifer here. I never hear anything about the communities in Georgetown, Round Rock or any of the other's in Williamson County doing anything significant to protect the aquifer. Why is that?