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Water Wars Compliance poses problem CANYON — The city of Canyon and High Plains Underground Water Conservation District agree that the city is now in compliance with the district's pumping rules in regard to a new lift station project. But at least one Randall County landowner is not happy about it. With the development of a 23-acre plot of land at the intersection of U.S. Highway 60 and VFW Road, the city is installing a lift station along Palo Duro Creek. In digging a 60-foot deep hole in which to install the lift station's tank, they hit a pocket of water, a small aquifer perched above the giant Ogallala Aquifer. With the water table at 15 feet, as they dug, the hole filled with water. The city drilled three wells to dewater the small aquifer, pumping the water on the west side of VFW Road and letting it flow down a bar ditch into Palo Duro Creek. Jim Conkwright, water district general manager, said he got several calls about the situation and sent a technician to investigate. The technician reported the wells in the northeastern corner of the plot were too close to the property line between the development and neighboring landowner Fletcher Sims' property. The technician also reported the three wells violated the water district's spacing rules by being too close together. And, most important, the wells had not been permitted. The water district sent a cease and desist letter to the city, and in reply received a copy of a permit issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, allowing the city to take water out of Palo Duro Creek to water Hunsley Hills golf course on the east side of VFW Road. The water district said the TCEQ permit didn't apply and sent another cease and desist letter. Before filing a lawsuit to halt the pumping, Conkwright and the water district's lawyer went to Canyon City Hall and met with City Manager Glen Metcalf and assistant Randy Criswell. The city and water district officials worked out a solution. The city had already cut pumping to below 25 gallons per minute, the threshold at which the water district becomes involved. Instead of letting the water run down the bar ditch, the city got permission from the Texas Department of Transportation to pipe water down to a culvert beneath VFW Road to the creek bed where it flows into the area of Palo Duro Creek covered by the TCEQ permit. As the city cut back on its pumping, the water table in the lift station's construction zone began to fill the hole again, so another three small wells were drilled. Metcalf said the brackish water from the aquifer flows into the oft-dry creek and soaks back into the ground, recharging the aquifer. He expects the lift station project to be completed soon and the wells to be shut in, he said. "As soon as that lift station, which will serve a large new area for Canyon, is in place, the wells will be plugged." He said he expects the water table to return to previous levels. "There are no violations that are being committed by the city of Canyon," Metcalf said. He said that there is some question as to whether the water district has any authority over municipalities, but he said that's not the issue in this case. Both Metcalf and Conkwright agreed that as long as the wells pump less than 25 gallons per minute, they need not be permitted by the water district or meet any spacing rules. Fletcher Sims, however, said while that may meet the letter of the law, it doesn't meet the spirit. "It's an affront to common sense and to the law," Sims said. "That's as big a concern as the water we've lost." Conkwright said that while the water district has the legal ability to fine the city for a violation, he and his board are more concerned with bringing such projects into compliance than penalizing people. When one governmental entity fines another, only the taxpayers lose. And, it would be difficult to prove damages for the time the city was out of compliance. Sims estimates the city pumped three million gallons of water before it cut back. Sims said he offered to let the city drill a recharge well on his land. Metcalf said the city never received such an offer. Conkwright said there were discussions about piping the water across the creek and on to one of Sims' pastures, but city officials asked what was the difference between letting the water flow off Sims' pasture and into the creek and flow off the city's project into the creek. Conkwright commended both Metcalf and Criswell for their willingness to work with the water district. "I think we have a better working relationship now than before," Conkwright said. For his part, Sims said he is worried about the springs that pool in the creek bed upstream from the lift station project. He said that if those springs near his home dry up because of the pumping, he intends to demand that the city provide water for his cattle. Conkwright said the water district will continue to monitor the situation until the project is complete. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: February 28, 2008
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