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Brazos Valley groundwater district reports stable 2025, warns of long‑term pressure from exports and growth
Summary
The Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District told the Commissioners Court its 2025 monitoring shows stable year‑to‑year groundwater production but ongoing long‑term declines in the Simsboro aquifer tied to regional projects and growth; the district outlined fee changes, monitoring and a mitigation plan tied to upcoming export projects.
Alan Dague, general manager of the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District, told the Commissioners Court March 24 that 2025 was steady year‑to‑year but warned that long‑term pressures remain.
Dague presented the district's annual report, saying the district issued eight non‑exempt permits in 2025 covering roughly 3,000 acre‑feet of permitted use and that metered production by aquifer and use category remained similar to 2024. He said the district changed fee collection last year to charge per permitted acre‑foot in real time and that the transition produced a larger single‑year collection — “the number you see here is about 520,000,” he said — because the district shifted from collecting in arrears to current billing.
Why it matters: Dague emphasized that local growth and large export projects can change the picture quickly. He described the Vista Ridge export project as the clearest recent regional influence on the Simsboro aquifer, saying the Vista Ridge cone of depression has arrived and that the district can now attribute a roughly 2‑foot artesian head reduction to the project on local monitoring wells. “Once they turned that switch on in April of 2020, they’ve never turned the switch off,” he said.
The district reported it maintains 222 monitoring wells and takes roughly 612 water‑level measurements annually; a focused subset of about 80 Simsboro wells is checked more frequently to track short‑term impacts. Dague said the district is coordinating a mitigation plan for a proposed Upwell export project (projected online in the late 2029–2030 timeframe) that seeks to build mitigation capacity before new pumping begins.
On desired future conditions (DFC) — the statutory planning targets that guide groundwater regulation — Dague said the district is in a multi‑district planning round (GMA 12) that will set the next planning horizons; the district currently uses a planning horizon tied to a DFC expressed as an artesian reduction number and will continue rulemaking tied to that planning framework.
What the court discussed: Commissioners asked about exempt wells, private‑well registration and outreach. Dague said the district is proactively registering many previously unrecorded exempt wells to protect property rights and to ensure owners are included in mitigation planning if future curtailment is required. He highlighted the district’s education work — school programs and community outreach — and noted the district hired an educational coordinator to expand that work.
Next steps: The district will continue DFC planning with other local districts this year, refine mitigation agreements tied to export fees, and maintain frequent monitoring of key Simsboro wells. Dague encouraged county leaders and residents to “get plugged in” to the district website and public meetings to follow rules and mitigation planning.
