The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality held a Water Rights Advisory Work Group meeting on Tuesday September 1, 2015. The following agenda was discussed.
Water Rights Section Update, Lori Hamilton
- Public meeting on July 20, 2015 on LCRA Management Plan
- Currently reviewing comments and preparing responses
- Public meeting for OP and Nancy Leonard will be on September 29, 2015 at Mills County Civic Center
- Wyatt Eason is a new staff member on the Resource Protection team
- Working on rulemaking to implement HB 655 regarding aquafer storage and recovery projects
- The target date to propose rule is December 2015
Watermaster Section Update, Amy Settemeyer
- Finished evaluation of Red River and Canadian River basins
- On August 19, they recommended to the commission that they not move forward on their own motion to appoint a watermaster in either basin
- Commission took no action
- Annual budgets for the 4 watermaster programs will be presented to commission on September 9
- Brazos atermaster program has been active since June 1 of this year
- There is currently one vacancy in south Texas program that they are looking to fill
Commission Actions, Robin Smith
- On July 1, 2015, the commission heard an LCRA emergency order which was issued and will expire on October 16 but can be continued for 60 days
- There is a proposal to issue VRE’s permit on for Brazos River Authority System Operations
- Waiting for ALJs to write something up responding to exceptions before it is placed on commission agenda
- GBRA off channel reservoir hearing has not been set yet
Closing Comments, Carmen Cardenas
- Next meeting is scheduled for December 1, 2015