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Councilman, mayor to attend groundwater study
Published November 26, 2009
The city of Del Rio needs a voice in future plans for the region's water supply, one city councilman says.
Councilman Mike Wrob on Tuesday talked to the Del Rio News-Herald about the importance of being included in a groundwater study being planned by the groundwater conservation districts in several counties north of Del Rio.
Wrob and Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez said they will attend a Dec. 3 meeting in Sonora to discuss the study.
“The region is going to be setting up what's called the desired future conditions for the water features - aquifers, springs, etc. - within our region, and we don't have a representative because you have to have a groundwater conservation district to have a representative at the table. But they've invited us to participate in the study, and we can submit what we want for our desired future conditions, and they are supposed to take that into account,” Wrob said.
Wrob said the first step in giving the city a voice in the process is the council approval to spend $25,000 for its share of the water study.
“This will allow us to be part of the study. The meeting on Dec. 3 is basically a study planning meeting,” Wrob noted.
“I hope we get a voice at the table at the regional meeting, and I also hope we get a better understanding about where the supply is for the aquifer that feeds the springs,” Wrob said.
Wrob added the issue of water is vital to the community.
“People should care, if for nothing else, for their drinking water, because our drinking water comes from the springs. And hopefully they will care more than just about their drinking water, hopefully they will care about the springs themselves,” Wrob said.
“At some point, there are people who are going to want to pump water out of the county. We're not opposed to that, we just need to make sure they don't pump so much that it will be harmful to the springs,” the councilman said.
Wrob added, “(The water issue) is bigger than just Val Verde County. It's going to be a statewide problem, and eventually a national and an international problem. . .And the people without water are going to want to get water from the people with water. And we have the water.
“One thing people can look back on is what happened to Comanche Springs in the Ft. Stockton area, which at the time was, I think, the second- or third-largest springs in the state of Texas. It's dry now, pumped dry by agricultural interests in the area. And they weren't pumping the water directly out of the springs. They were pumping it from wells nearby. Obviously that's not something we want to have happen to San Felipe Springs,” Wrob said.
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