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San Marcos staff outline plan to renew Edwards Aquifer habitat permit, warn of sizable costs
Summary
City staff told the San Marcos City Council the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan renewal seeks a new incidental‑take permit before the current permit expires in March 2028, would preserve spring flows and endangered species habitat, and could cost tens of millions annually with significant EAA fee impacts for permittees.
City staff on Tuesday laid out the scope, schedule and costs of renewing the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and the associated U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service incidental‑take permit that provides legal coverage for otherwise lawful activities that may harm listed species in the San Marcos and Comal river systems. The presentation, led by Mark Enders, the city’s habitat conservation plan manager, emphasized the regional nature of the work and the need to meet Endangered Species Act permitting requirements.
The presentation explained that the city’s existing incidental‑take permit, issued with the 2013 HCP, expires in March 2028 and that partners — including the Edwards Aquifer Authority, San Antonio Water System, Texas State University, the cities of San Marcos and New Braunfels, and permittee staff — are preparing a renewed plan and a draft permit application. Enders said the HCP’s purpose is to minimize and mitigate unintentional impacts from activities such as aquifer pumping, river recreation and infrastructure maintenance while providing a path for continued lawful operations under an ITP.
Enders described biological goals in the renewed HCP — including spring‑flow objectives and measures to maintain Texas wild rice and fountain darter habitat — and outlined monitoring, refugia and aquatic‑vegetation restoration programs that would be required to demonstrate conservation success to Fish and Wildlife. He said the draft plan will aim for spring‑flow objectives that include maintaining San Marcos spring flow above a target threshold (the presentation cited a minimum objective near 45 cubic feet per second at extreme low‑flow triggers and a target of maintaining flows above 60 CFS for much of the year) and that average flows are well above those levels in normal conditions.
On funding, staff said the Edwards Aquifer Authority’s aquifer management fee (cited in the presentation at $97 per acre‑foot) has historically supported HCP costs and that program costs for a renewed plan could total roughly $28–30 million per year. Mark Enders outlined estimated line items including roughly $1 million annually for a refugia program, about $1 million for monitoring, nearly $2 million for program administration, and roughly $900,000 for San Marcos‑specific conservation measures. Enders told council that the EAA is proposing to acquire control of on the order of 100,000 acre‑feet of water rights as a spring‑flow protection measure that would be forborne under drought triggers — a substantial share of the Edwards Aquifer’s authorized permanent rights.
Council members asked staff about cumulative costs to date for the renewal effort and whether the city and partner institutions have capacity to implement the measures. Enders said much of the early work has been funded or managed through the Edwards Aquifer Authority and consultants, and he cited approximately $2 million in combined grant funding to support the renewal process; he also said the city and Texas State University have staff and contracted expertise to deliver many conservation measures but that further discussions about cost allocation among permittees are ongoing.
Staff outlined a timeline: a cursory draft submission to U.S. Fish and Wildlife for initial comment is planned for the summer, a second draft could be submitted in December to kick off NEPA review, and council consideration of a final HCP and an application resolution is targeted for October 2027, with a permit goal of March 2028. Enders also noted that public review and comment will be part of the Fish and Wildlife process after staff submits the application.
The council also discussed operational items tied to the HCP: expanding managed access to sensitive river areas during extreme low flows, ongoing efforts to reduce promotion of river tourism (staff said website and CVB listings has been “scrubbed”), the presence of state‑installed TxDOT wayfinding signs that point motorists to river recreation areas, and maintenance and visual treatment of fencing and stabilized access points funded through the HCP. Council asked staff to provide more granular cost‑allocation information as negotiations with the Edwards Aquifer Authority continue.
Next procedural steps: staff will pursue the draft submissions to Fish and Wildlife, continue inter‑permittee negotiations about funding shares, and return to council with substantive changes if the federal agency’s early comments require revisions. The presentation and supporting reports are available through city staff and on the city’s website.
