Simple seemed to be the word of the day on Wednesday as the Red River Groundwater Conservation District Board discussed the management plan.
The plan outlines how the district will meet six goals: “to provide for the most efficient use of groundwater;” “controlling and preventing waste of groundwater;” “addressing conjunctive surface water management issues;” “addressing drought conditions;” “addressing conservation, recharge enhancement, rainwater harvesting, precipitation enhancement and brush control;” and addressing the desired future conditions adopted by the district.”
Board members seemed anxious to keep the plan’s requirements on the district to a minimum.
Bill Hutchison, a consultant with LBG-Guyton Associates who was hired to help with the process, went through each of the goals with the board. He told the board the way it addresses each goal has to be something measurable and should be something the district can definitely achieve since districts throughout the state are examined by the state on a rotating basis for their fulfillment of these required plans.
Besides the activities of registering and metering wells, most of the objectives the board outlined centered around publishing information to the district’s website.
Hutchison said he will take the board requests, which were matched with language from other district’s plans that have already been approved, and create a draft management plan for the board to consider next month. He said using language for other plans that have already been approved will help speed and smooth the process.
The plan must be submitted to the Texas Water Development Board for pre-approval before going though the public hearing process. After that, the district will consider final approval and final submission to the TWDB.
On Wednesday, the board also approved the purchase of ASYST accounting and utility billing software and the purchase of a computer and printer. The purchase will be split with the North Texas Groundwater Conservation District, which also uses the Greater Texoma Utility Authority for administrative support.
Each district will pay approximately $5,800 as a one-time fee for the software and $1,100 annually for support and software updates. Red River will take the funds for the expense, which was unbudgeted, out of funds remaining from last year.
