KERRVILLE, Texas – Groundwater Management Area 9 met in Kerrville Monday morning, as required by the state's Texas Water Development Board.
The management area consists of nine local water districts: Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District, Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District, Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District, Edwards Aquifer Authority, Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District, Medina County Groundwater Conservation District, and Trinity-Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District.
The districts cover Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Comal, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, and Travis counties.
"It's like trying to push a log chain across a pasture," said Chairman of Groundwater Management Area 9 and General Manager of the Blanco-Perdernales Groundwater Conservation District Ron Fieseler of Monday's meeting.
In other words, it is not an easy undertaking for the nine districts to come to agreement. After all, the districts only have geography in common.
"We have different demographics, different water availability issues; different populations," said Fieseler.
The districts also have varying water restrictions.
"My county is in stage 1 drought; we don't have a lot of people. Other counties are in stage 3 or 4," said Feiseler.
Still all the groundwater districts serve an important role. With little state oversight, the future of groundwater for the Hill Country lies with these districts and their ability to work in tandem to enforce conservation. Meetings like this one, according to the members, are incredibly important.
Monday's meeting was open to the public, but no citizen, from any of the districts, attended the meeting.
"This was a regional meeting. This was a wide, broader swath of activity and decisions being made on aquifers," said George Wissmann, who represents the Trinity-Glen Rose Groundwater Conservation District. "So there should have been more participants here today."
It was disappointing, according Wissmann, because lack of groundwater remains a vital concern, and a concern that should be on everyone's radar.
"[Going forward], it's going to be a primary issue," said Wissmann.