GCUWCD rule-making continues to disappoint with botched update

The Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District (GCUWCD) continues to mishandle its rulemaking. The latest chapter in the ongoing saga — a botched attempt to update its rules to comply with new groundwater laws passed during the recent 89th Texas Legislative Session.

GCUWCD recently proposed rule changes that were supposed to comply with the new groundwater legislation, prepared by GCUWCD's hired attorney Greg Ellis. GCWUCD's general manager Laura Martin issued the proposed rules to the public on July 23, 2025 along with a notice for a hearing on the rules to be held on Aug. 12, 2025.

Some of these new groundwater laws include:

• HB1633 (requiring permit applications to consider if the proposed use unreasonably affects exempt wells that are registered);

• HB1689 (groundwater export fees collected by a groundwater conservation district.);

• HB5560 (penalties in certain suits involving a groundwater conservation district);

• SB1583 (management plans adopted by groundwater conservation districts); and

• SB1663 (notification procedures concerning groundwater contamination).

These new laws are effective Sept. 1, requiring the GUWCD rules update to be timely.

Unfortunately, during the Aug. 12 rules hearing, it became apparent during public comment that the proposed rules prepared by GCUWCD's attorney Greg Ellis had numerous errors and omissions. The GCUWCD board was unable to approve the rules as proposed and noticed to the public, and attorney Greg Ellis went back to the drawing board.

The proposed rule changes had been erroneously based on a redline of an old version of the District's rules, leading to irrelevant changes and confusion. For example, the proposed rule changes included modifications to old District rules that had been changed, or that no longer existed at all (Rule Section 28 - Grandfathered Operating Permits).

Although some of the legislative changes were attempted in the proposed rule changes, in numerous instances the redlined word changes did not achieve the meaning of the new legislation. Further, the GCUWCD provided no explanation or comments to show which particular law was being addressed by a given rule change, and some of the new laws did not appear to be addressed at all.

This careless approach not only wasted public time, but also failed to incorporate essential language from the new laws. This delay is just the latest example of a broken rule-making process.

The GCUWCD has been drafting rules by a committee consisting of two of the five board members (Mike St.John-precinct 2, Barry Miller-precinct 4), and general manager Laura Martin. St.John has signed a groundwater lease with Schertz-Seguin Local Government Corp, holder of the District's largest export permit at 19,362 acre-feet per year. Miller has admitted to ex-parte communications and conflicts of interest with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority project, holder of the District's second-largest export permit at 15,000 acre-ft per year.

The rules as determined by this rule making committee are applied to the exporters that hold permits with the GCUWCD, raising concerns about conflict of interest. Local stakeholders continue to ask the GCUWCD for rules to protect against excessive pumping by exporters which hold the vast majority of Carrizo groundwater permit volumes.

Inadequate well spacing rules have resulted in many unleased property owners being subjected to drawdowns on their land from exporter wells that are greater than the drawdowns on the exporter's leased properties. GCUWCD has also not provided for mitigation of public supply wells that supply the towns in Gonzales County despite requests from locals.

In Gonzales County, our aquifers are our only water source and critical for our family farms and ranches and our residents that live here. The GCUWCD is faltering in its rulemaking and jeopardizing its own mission "to conserve, preserve, protect and prevent waste of groundwater resources" and with a policy "the most efficient use of groundwater in the District is to provide for the needs of the citizens and ensure growth for future generations."

The district board will meet at the Courthouse at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9. As of the time of this article, GCUWCD has not issued a revised set of rules — look to the GCWUCD website https://gcuwcd.org for future updates. The public is encouraged to attend and ask for rule changes to protect local stakeholders.

Ted Boriack is a member of the Water Protection Association and a Gonzales County landowner dedicated to preserving local water resources.