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City postpones action on water bill
By Richard Grabman / Correspondent
Miscommunication was blamed for the potentially contentious issue of control of city water at Tuesday's regular city council meeting.
Two bills pending before the Texas Legislature, HB 545 and 546, introduced by State Rep. Pete Gallego, were meant to rectify what Brewster County Ground Water District Board Chair Tom Beard called the "Midland Loop." When water districts were created by the legislature, Beard explained, Midland Rep. Tom Craddock sought to exempt the city of Midland, and added a clause that did not specify the city, but was meant only to exclude Midland from control by these boards. However, the wording also put other West Texas cities, like Alpine, outside the authority of their local water district.
However, "It was not some kind of nefarious plot," Beard said.
According to Beard, when Brewster County voters approved the creation of a water district by a 10-1 margin, they assumed, as did the state, that the entire county was meant to be part of the district. Beard apologized to the city council for not informing them of Rep. Gallego's intention to correct the situation, saying the board and the representative's office had both wrongly assumed the other had contacted the city.
HB 545, which deals with Brewster County (and HB 546, which is essentially the same bill, covering Presidio County) closes the "Midland Loop" and put wells within the county that serve Alpine under the same rules as those serving the rest of the county. Beard pointed out that without a county-wide water district, there would be nothing to stop a private company from drilling a well next to one used by the city. Alpine uses about half the water in Brewster County, but if the water board did not have county-wide jurisdiction, there would be no legal way to stop commercial water drillers from tapping into the same sources.
"Rio Nuevo (a project that would have tapped Brewster County water for use elsewhere) may be down, but it's not dead. Mesa Water, Texas Water and speculators would happily drain us dry," he warned.
While Beard recognized there were still some outstanding controversies (one being the composition of the board), he was only asking the city council to postpone action which would have opposed passage of these two bills.
After hearing from Beard, Mayor Mickey Clouse said, "The City of Alpine has to abide by this."
She added that she did not know who "told Gallego I was opposed to this," but said the explanations she had received were wrong.
Avinish Rangra, who had requested the proposed opposition be put on the council agenda claimed he was only trying to raise the issue. The city, at Beard's request, postponed taking any action.
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