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Rural residents press Nueces County court to back proposed groundwater district amid concerns over large-scale pumping
Summary
Landowners and a petition group told the commissioners court that planned municipal and industrial well fields could exceed the county's modeled available groundwater by more than tenfold, raising risks of drawdown, salinity intrusion and higher TDS; presenters asked the court to support a proposed Nueces Groundwater Conservation District and coordination with TCEQ.
Trey Cranford, speaking for organizers of the proposed Nueces Groundwater Conservation District, told the Nueces County Commissioners Court on Feb. 25 that withdrawals planned by the City of Corpus Christi and other projects already exceed the county's modeled available groundwater (MAG) and risk long-term harm to rural wells and water quality.
"Currently the municipal pumping alone exceeds MAG levels," Cranford said, citing a MAG of 6,787 acre-feet and warning that municipal plans for well fields could total 43,000,000 gallons per day. He added that combined planned withdrawals in a roughly 15-mile radius could reach 75 million to 110 million gallons per day — many times the MAG.
Why it matters: Petitioners said the county has no local groundwater regulator and that without a Groundwater Conservation District (GCD) heavy-volume users operate under the rule of capture. Kelly Harland, the lead petitioner for the proposed…
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