Protecting the Colorado River Basin, Aquifers, and Bays of the Texas Gulf Coast
Action Alert: Environmental Stewardship and SAWDF will address the Lost Pines Board regarding the Proposed DFCs at its
May 19, 7:00 PM Virtual Meeting
Greetings!

Environmental Stewardship and Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF) will make presentations regarding the Proposed Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) to the Lost Pines Board of Directors at the
May 19, 7:00 pm virtual meeting. Please join us in the meeting.

Zoom Meeting Link:
Meeting ID: 892 0431 6698
 
Telephone conference:
Phone number: Dial +1 346 248 7799
Meeting ID: 892 0431 6698 #
Passcode: 081526 (if prompted) 
You may be prompted for a passcode. Press # to bypass entering a passcode. 

Environmental Stewardship and SAWDF have been granted the opportunity to address our concerns regarding the Proposed GMA-12 Desired Future Conditions (DFCs) to the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District's Board of Directors under Item 9 of the attached agenda. This will give each organization the opportunity to not only present its concerns, but to also have an open discussion with the board members.

We are asking you, and especially our constituents in Bastrop and Lee Counties, to write or call the Board before or after this meeting to express your desires regarding this critical decision that the Board will be making. We are also inviting you to join in the virtual meeting. If you want to address the Board during the meeting you will need to notify them by noon Wednesday. See the above agenda for more details.

Both organization will lay out our reasons for asking the Board to reject the Proposed DFCs and remand them back to GMA-12 for revision. You can review much of what will be presented by watching the video below.

In short, we want the Board to stand tall and require that our aquifers be managed responsibly by rejecting these Proposed DFCs in favor of DFCs based on:
  • sustainable management of the aquifers,
  • protection of exempt landowner domestic and livestock wells, and 
  • maintaining the resilience of the Colorado River to drought

The clock is ticking on our ability to reject managed depletion of a resource our communities and the Colorado River cannot live without — WATER.

Groundwater Conservation Districts — our state’s supposed preferred management tool for protection of the water below us — have struggled, for years, to do their job while facing litigation, and threats of litigation, from water marketers, developers and legislators who call for “managed depletion," otherwise known as aquifer mining.

And it’s all coming to a head. We are now in a 90-day public comment period. Public hearings are now being scheduled in the five Groundwater Districts to get your comments and concerns over the next few months (May-July).  

We invite all citizens, landowners, local government officials, businesses, and community organizations to join us to challenge the “Proposed Desired Future Conditions” and management policies being set for the Groundwater Management Area in which we live (GMA-12).

  • Lost Pines GCD - Bastrop and Lee Counties
  • Post Oak Savannah GCD - Burleson and Milam Counties
  • Brazos Valley GCD - Brazos and Robertson Counties
  • Fayette County GCD - Fayette County
  • Mid-East Texas GCD - Freestone, Leon and Madison Counties

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The Issues Being Decided

Below is a quick summary of the issues being decided. For a brief description of each issue click here.  
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Below is a video where Environmental Stewardship lays out its concerns with the DFCs and our proposal for dealing with surface water issues (just click on the graph).
What you can do to help!


  1. Contact the board members of the Lost Pines Board of Directors and tell them that the “Proposed DFCs” must be rejected and sent back for revision. (Get contact information and talking points here).
  2. Send this email to your friends and ask them to join us by taking the two steps above AND by signing up for our newsletter here so that we can keep them informed and alert them to other actions to take. 
  3. Plan to attend the May 19th virtual meeting of Lost Pines GCD. Regardless of where you live in GMA-12, you can provide comments before, during or after this meeting until July 29th. (See public notices and instructions here.)
  4. Reach Your Local Officials (City and County) and ask them what they are doing about the situation. Ask them to contact your groundwater district. Let them know that the Vista Ridge pumping, along with the already permitted Forestar and Recharge Water (formerly End Op) pumping — another 73,000 AFY of pumping — has stretched GMA-12 beyond reality and they have lost their ability to manage responsibly.
  5. Donate to our efforts. Environmental Stewardship and SAWDF can make your donation tax deductible. We need funds to reach thousands of residents throughout GMA-12. And we need funds to support our lawyers and scientists in filing the legal briefs necessary to influence the board members that make these decisions. We are also considering a newspaper ad campaign if we have the funds needed.


On behalf our Board of Directors and me, 
thank you for your help and participation.

Sincerely,
Steve Box
Board President and Executive Director
Environmental Stewardship
Steve Box | Executive Director | Environmental Stewardship | A WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE Affiliate
Our Mission

Environmental Stewardship is a charitable nonprofit organization whose purposes are to meet current and future needs of the environment and its inhabitants by protecting and enhancing the earth's natural resources; to restore and sustain ecological services using scientific information; and to encourage public stewardship through environmental education and outreach.  

We are a Texas nonprofit 501(c) (3) charitable organization headquartered in Bastrop, Texas.