Northeast Texas Counties Work to Form Groundwater District

More than a dozen East Texas counties are working to create a groundwater conservation district that would prevent over-pumping water from the aquifer below their communities.

On Tuesday, Gregg County Commissioners voted to approve a resolution adding the county to a growing number of East Texas communities interested in developing the Northeast Texas Groundwater Conservation District. This is among the first steps to establish the district, which will have to undergo legislative approval in 2027.

Leaders in northeast Texas want to create a groundwater conservation district to protect East Texans from losing all their groundwater. This district would set guardrails for water usage and establish regulations for water drilling and extraction permits. As of Wednesday, 15 counties had signed on to create the district with the potential to add more, said Austin-based attorney Brian Sledge, who’s helping establish this district.

“It’s a matter of being responsible stewards of what Mother Nature has given us,” said Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt. “We certainly can access it, but we need to make sure there’s proper regulation so it’s not overused and dried up. Some of these groups come in and take water out of East Texas to ship to Dallas or to San Antonio or whatever else and then leave us dry. That’s not right. There’s got to be a better way.”

Many parts of Texas face a water shortage. As cities juggle declining water availability with growing populations, they’re looking to the water-rich region to the east. Due to its proximity to East Texas, Dallas and its surrounding communities in particular have sought to tap into East Texas’ water reserves.

The Region C Water Plan, which manages the Dallas-area water supply, highlights East Texas counties without groundwater conservation districts as key water extraction points. One idea is to pull 25,000 acre feet — equivalent to about 8 billion gallons — from beneath Smith, Wood, Van Zandt and Upshur counties.

“With no GCDs in the targeted counties, there are no pumping regulations or limitations and DWU would likely be able to develop the full project amount,” the water planning organization wrote in its plan.

Another idea in the water plan is to pump 42,000 acre feet — about 13.6 billion gallons — of water from Anderson County, further south. Anderson County is part of the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District, which is already established and is undergoing a review of its rules and regulations.

At this point, the northeast groundwater district is still in its infancy.

Counties, in signing these resolutions, have also signed on with Sledge, who was tasked with writing the bill that would be taken before the Texas Legislature in 2027. It will be influenced heavily by state law and what regional leaders believe will work best for their communities.

He will provide the text to East Texas lawmakers and is optimistic they will see the bill to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

“These are local bills by nature,” Sledge said. “And as long as you have the local senators and state representatives on board, they typically get through the process without running into too many obstacles. But you never know what will happen at the Texas Capitol.”

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.