Needmore approved for 289 million water permit

After years of challenges, Needmore Ranch received a permit to pump up to 289,080,000 gallons of water per year from the Trinity Aquifer. The Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District approved the permit unanimously last week.

As part of the permit, Needmore is required to comply with the drought curtailments of a Historical Trinity Production Permit as well as the terms outlined in the proposed Special Provisions. The special provisions approved by the board are a set of response measures, conditions, and requirements that are designed to be protective of aquifer conditions and to avoid unreasonable impacts to existing well owners.

“We based our decisions on information and science not speculation not anything else but on science, which is what (Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District) did,” Greg LaMantia, owner of Needmore Ranch, said. “And I have to applaud the district. They did a good job of looking at the science and how this works excreta. We don’t feel the impact is going to be negative at all, and that is based on the facts.”

Those who have consistently challenged the permit since it was first requested are concerned about negative impacts.

“This permit would become the largest permitee in the Trinity Aquifer under the BSEACD jurisdiction,” Patrick Cox, who represented St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and School during hearings on surrounding groundwater permits, said. “Groundwater pumping from our aquifers are already occurring at an unsustainable rate… Private property owners will suffer an unreasonable impact as defined by the District.”

The Trinity Edwards Spring Protection Association, which challenged the permit with the State Office of Administrative Hearings, said they are still looking at what options are available.

“TESPA is, of course, extremely disappointed by the Board’s decision,” Vanessa Puig-Williams, executive director of TESPA, said in a blog post following the vote. “We feel that the Board had the discretion and the authority to deny the permit. We are currently assessing our options moving forward and will provide an update of our plans related to the Needmore permit soon.”

Multiple members of the BSEACD Board of Directors stated during the meeting that they felt like they were required to approve the permit by state law. The law referenced, House Bill 3405, was put in place in 2015 to try and get Electro Purification within the authority of a conservation district. The bill also expanded the BSEACD to cover Needmore Ranch.

The bill created a provision requiring that properties with an active well be allowed to file for a temporary permit at maximum capacity. That temporary permit could then be made a regular permit. TESPA challenged the issuance of a temporary permit to Needmore Ranch because the well used had been abandoned. They also felt that the board had the right to deny the permit. In the end, BSEACD felt that the law required the issuance of the permit, which came to fruition last week.

It is important to note that these HB 3405 requirements do not extend to Electro Purification as the company elected to go through the standard permitting process.

The Needmore permit is approved for agricultural uses. LaMantia told the Wimberley View that he plans to use the water to raise his cattle and that he has no intent of developing the land. Needmore Ranch’s attorneys stated that if Needmore wanted to use the water for something other than agriculture, wildlife or irrigation they would have to go back to the board for approval of that use.