Despite Rain, Communities Within Tom Green County Still Desperate for Water Sources

Commissioner Rick Bacon brought the commissioners’ court up to speed on a drought disaster relief fund Tuesday morning. San Angelo has been thriving due to recent rains and a substantial rise in Lake Nasworthy’s and other reservoirs' water levels. Smaller communities around the county, however, have been struggling to acquire enough groundwater for their crops and residential water supplies. Bacon has received three grants for three small water systems in Grape Creek, Dove Creek and Twin Buttes.

“Potable water-wise, we’re still in a drought,” Bacon said. “The water tables haven’t come up enough. With that drought in place, the groundwater supplies are being harder and harder to maintain what’s required by the state for those water districts. And so we apply for that and have to help.”

According to Bacon, these grants allow the county to drill additional wells, upgrade the infrastructure of wells, add additional pipelines and maybe put in additional storage tanks.

Although these grants have allowed for some significant progress, the county has had some challenges meeting the state’s requirements.

“Unfortunately, on our Grape Creek project, the area that they found the water happened to be in an area that had been classified as an archeological site,” Bacon said. “The Texas Historical Commission has designated certain areas of the state where they’ve had some significant historical finds. It just so happened that where the water was discovered for one of our grants fell into one of those areas.”

In order to verify that the county can drill for water on the Grape Creek site, an archeological survey must occur. If historical artifacts are found, the county will have to adjust the pipeline so it does not go through a significant historical spot. Furthermore, a flood plain complicated matters on the Dove Creek site, causing the county to relocate.

“The situation we ran into [in Dove Creek] was that the places where they were finding the water was in a flood plain, so Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regulations do not allow you to drill wells in a flood plain,” Bacon said. “So you have to find an area outside of the flood plain to set up and drill wells.”

Flood plains are areas designated by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  that are venerable to floods. Despite the challenges Bacon has experienced when toiling on these relief grants, he said that he has “learned a lot” throughout the process.