The South Plains UWCD will be hosting a Water Wise Landscape Workshop in Brownfield this Saturday. We hope to see you there....
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Texas Groundwater-Your Future Conference
For more information, visit the Permian Basin UWCD website at
www.pbuwcd.com
Friday, April 9, 2010
Meadow & Wellman Union School Visits
It is finally time for our cooperative to start visiting our 4th & 5th graders for our South Plains & Sandy Land UWCD Calendar Art Contest. I enjoy spending time with the students and teaching them about the importance of water conservation.
This week I was able to visit Burleson Elementary in Meadow & Wellman Union Elementary. I talked to the students about how they could conserve water inside and outside their homes and we played a water conservation version of deal or no deal. We then discussed the UWCD Calendar Art Contest and when I told them that they could win $25 or $50, their eyes began to light up.
Below are a few pictures from the Wellman Union group this morning. I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the Meadow students due to a dead camera battery. But I do have a very cute story from my visit at Burleson Elementary.
One of my helpers kept asking me what they were going to win if they won the deal or no deal game. I would say “a pat on the back” or “you will just be the winner.” Obviously this wasn’t good enough for him so he said he had a GREAT idea of what they could win. He said his team could win my husband’s tractor because he has the best tractors around this area. He went on to tell his classmates how awesome my husband’s tractor is and how it would be the best prize. Trying not to burst into laughter, I told him I would talk things over with my farmer to see if we could fulfill his wish. Luckily, his team did not win but oh how I loved his imagination. My farmer does not have the best tractor around but I wasn’t about to tell this little guy otherwise.
My Score Keeper.
My little Vanna White's
Getting ready to answer a question.Friday, March 26, 2010
Martin County Community Banquet
Last night I attended the Martin County Community Banquet in Stanton. I was there representing the PBUWCD. The District had a display set up to show those who attended,what the PBUWCD offers to citizens in the county.
Coming from a small town myself, I always enjoy being around those who hold the same small town values as traditions as myself. It is so great to see so many people come together to support their community. The banquet had a host of speakers including employees of the Martin County Extension office and others who held county offices. The principals from the two schools in the county, Grady & Stanton, presented two students from their schools with student of the year awards and also gave a teacher or the year award.
The community also awarded a person of the year award and an Ag family of the year award. I had such a great time being with a room full genially caring people and a loving community.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Resources, Naturally Planning the Future of Groundwater
The deadline for groundwater conservation districts (GCD), within each of the state’s 16 GMAs, to set their Desired Future Condition (DFC) is September 2010. That date is fast approaching, and GCDs are discussing what the right or wrong DFC is for their area.
The article below weighs in on the DFC process and concludes with the true purpose behind the madness. Post a comment below and let us know what you think about the DFC procedure.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources, Naturally Planning the Future of Groundwater
By Paul Sugg
TAC Legislative Staff
What do you want the future to look like?
We are not often given the opportunity to answer a question like this with any certainty, but some of us might get the chance to have some influence on the future of the state’s groundwater resources. This will be accomplished by groundwater management experts agreeing upon the desired future condition of the aquifers managed by groundwater districts.
Since 1904, Texas groundwater has been ruled by the law of the biggest pump or, more diplomatically, the rule of capture. With a number of exceptions, the rule of capture allows landowners to pump as much water as they choose without being liable for claims from surrounding landowners that the pumping caused their wells to go dry or diminished their production. (The Texas Supreme Court established this principal in 1904 in Houston & T.C. Ry Co. v. East, often called the East case). In more recent years, the court has reaffirmed the rule of capture and deferred to the Legislature regarding the regulating of groundwater; the Legislature has stated its preferred method for regulating groundwater is the creation of groundwater conservation districts.
When the court arrived at its decision in 1904, it noted the general and particular knowledge of groundwater — how it acted, how it moved — was lacking, and without that adequate knowledge, the court was hard-pressed to go beyond affirming the rule of capture:“Because the existence, origin, movement and course of such waters, and the causes which govern and direct their movements, are so secret, occult and concealed, that an attempt to administer any set of legal rules in respect to them would be involved in hopeless uncertainty, and would be, therefore, practically impossible.”
Thankfully, science has progressed a bit since then, and we have a greater (albeit unperfected) understanding of the water underneath us. Local groundwater districts, together with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), work toward a better understanding of the water underground. Back in 2005, the Legislature passed a law designed to encourage regional cooperation and collaboration among groundwater districts in a groundwater management areas (GMA). The districts within each of state’s 16 GMAs are directed to conduct joint planning and, through a process which includes assistance from and cooperation with TWDB and regional water planning groups, to establish the desired future conditions for their groundwater resources. The determination of the desired future conditions for these groundwater resources will be accomplished by September of this year.
Groundwater is important to the present and future of Texas: it represents 59 percent of the water used in the state. Groundwater feeds springs, creeks and rivers and thus is an essential component of the state’s surface water resources. This interaction between groundwater and surface water bears greater study, as does the impact of long-term drought on rainfall and, ultimately, groundwater and surface water levels.
An additional issue complicates this: the question of regulatory takings. Does setting a desired future condition for an area, and in effect, placing pumping limits, constitute a taking of private property? That’s a question for the lawyers and, in fact, there is a case currently before the Texas Supreme Court asking that question and there are a good number of people interested in the answerI
So there it is: by taking in and weighing all these complex political, legal and scientific factors, we can, as a people, determine what we want our groundwater resources to look like in the future. By carefully husbanding these resources, we can at least take an educated stab at predicting and arriving at a sustainable future for the groundwater resources of our state.
After all, this is the whole purpose of the state water planning process begun in 1997 by SB 1, to ensure generations unseen and unknown will have adequate water resources to live their lives. Or we can choose a more rapid depletion and an uncertain future for those that follow. We are a free people: the choice is ours.
source: T.A.G.D. via email
The article below weighs in on the DFC process and concludes with the true purpose behind the madness. Post a comment below and let us know what you think about the DFC procedure.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources, Naturally Planning the Future of Groundwater
By Paul Sugg
TAC Legislative Staff
What do you want the future to look like?
We are not often given the opportunity to answer a question like this with any certainty, but some of us might get the chance to have some influence on the future of the state’s groundwater resources. This will be accomplished by groundwater management experts agreeing upon the desired future condition of the aquifers managed by groundwater districts.
Since 1904, Texas groundwater has been ruled by the law of the biggest pump or, more diplomatically, the rule of capture. With a number of exceptions, the rule of capture allows landowners to pump as much water as they choose without being liable for claims from surrounding landowners that the pumping caused their wells to go dry or diminished their production. (The Texas Supreme Court established this principal in 1904 in Houston & T.C. Ry Co. v. East, often called the East case). In more recent years, the court has reaffirmed the rule of capture and deferred to the Legislature regarding the regulating of groundwater; the Legislature has stated its preferred method for regulating groundwater is the creation of groundwater conservation districts.
When the court arrived at its decision in 1904, it noted the general and particular knowledge of groundwater — how it acted, how it moved — was lacking, and without that adequate knowledge, the court was hard-pressed to go beyond affirming the rule of capture:“Because the existence, origin, movement and course of such waters, and the causes which govern and direct their movements, are so secret, occult and concealed, that an attempt to administer any set of legal rules in respect to them would be involved in hopeless uncertainty, and would be, therefore, practically impossible.”
Thankfully, science has progressed a bit since then, and we have a greater (albeit unperfected) understanding of the water underneath us. Local groundwater districts, together with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), work toward a better understanding of the water underground. Back in 2005, the Legislature passed a law designed to encourage regional cooperation and collaboration among groundwater districts in a groundwater management areas (GMA). The districts within each of state’s 16 GMAs are directed to conduct joint planning and, through a process which includes assistance from and cooperation with TWDB and regional water planning groups, to establish the desired future conditions for their groundwater resources. The determination of the desired future conditions for these groundwater resources will be accomplished by September of this year.
Groundwater is important to the present and future of Texas: it represents 59 percent of the water used in the state. Groundwater feeds springs, creeks and rivers and thus is an essential component of the state’s surface water resources. This interaction between groundwater and surface water bears greater study, as does the impact of long-term drought on rainfall and, ultimately, groundwater and surface water levels.
An additional issue complicates this: the question of regulatory takings. Does setting a desired future condition for an area, and in effect, placing pumping limits, constitute a taking of private property? That’s a question for the lawyers and, in fact, there is a case currently before the Texas Supreme Court asking that question and there are a good number of people interested in the answerI
So there it is: by taking in and weighing all these complex political, legal and scientific factors, we can, as a people, determine what we want our groundwater resources to look like in the future. By carefully husbanding these resources, we can at least take an educated stab at predicting and arriving at a sustainable future for the groundwater resources of our state.
After all, this is the whole purpose of the state water planning process begun in 1997 by SB 1, to ensure generations unseen and unknown will have adequate water resources to live their lives. Or we can choose a more rapid depletion and an uncertain future for those that follow. We are a free people: the choice is ours.
source: T.A.G.D. via email
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
National Groundwater Awareness Week
7th-13th ,2010
National Ground Water Awareness Week, March 8-14, is a time to recognize the importance of groundwater and water well stewardship to our nation’s future, the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) said today.
Not only do about 12 million households nationwide rely on private wells for their water supply, many community water systems rely on groundwater in whole or part to meet water demands, and groundwater supplies much of our nation’s water for agricultural irrigation. Groundwater, makes up about 95 percent of all available fresh water.
source: Texas Groundwater Protection Committee
Everyone can easily become good stewards by protecting groundwater through the proper storage, use, and disposal of hazardous household substances. These include common products such as gasoline and oil, paints and paint thinner, fertilizers, weed killers, pesticides, and cleaning products.
For more information on National Ground Water Awarness Week, vist the following websites:
National Groundwater Association http://www.ngwa.org/
Texas Groundwater Protection Committee www.tgpc.state.tx.us/
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Spring is Here
We have a few more weeks until the "official" day of Spring but Spring fever has already hit my desk! The Education Cooperative will be hosting and participating in numerous events for the months of March, April & May. I will be blogging about each event as they arrive. Until then, here is a hint of what you can expect...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)