TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Paula Priour’s home once looked over a pitch black Texas Hill Country. Amid the tall grass, old trees and art displays built by her husband and son, the hills roll for miles and miles.
“When we first moved here, there were no lights on the horizon at all,” said Priour while looking down at the dozen or so developments that have popped up in the last couple of decades.
“There are six developments between here and (Highway) 12, and the Mirasol line will extend past that for another eight miles out,” Priour said.
Mirasol Springs is a planned green development on the border of Travis and Hays counties. It is located in an environmentally sensitive area near the Pedernales River, Hamilton Pool and Reimer’s Ranch.
In October, the West Travis County Public Utility Agency (WTCPUA) heard public comment on a proposed water line that would provide service to the development. To get approval, the developers would have to agree to certain restrictions.
Ahead of a decision on the water service line, Priour and other landowners are concerned the utility agency won’t uphold its promises and maintain those restrictions on the development.
Water concerns at the green development
The construction and line would be paid for by the developers. The line would be three inches in diameter. and be built along Hamilton Pool Rd.
Travis County leaders have voiced support for the water line after they initially were concerned about the damage the development could have on the taxpayer land, including Hamilton Pool, near Mirasol Springs.
Pushback from landowners, worried about increased development as a result of the line, led to a delay in a vote by the WTCPUA until November 18.
While the WTCPUA has said the proposed line is only meant for Mirasol Springs, Paula said past extensions have led to the development she sees today. Development she worries isn’t over.
Bringing water to the hills
In 2005, the Lower Colorado River Authority built a water line extension from Bee Cave to the area west of Highway 71 on Hamilton Pool Road.
“We fought it at the time, and we said, if you put a water line out here, then that’ll open it up for development,” Paula said. “But of course, we obviously we lost.”
A short time later, the LCRA sold the pipes and retail water business to newly formed entity: the WTCPUA.
Ahead of the Mirasol vote in October, representatives with the WTCPUA told KXAN that “the reason we are considering it is to relieve capacity from the Trinity Aquifer and the Pedernales River.”
Mirasol Springs has applied for permits for groundwater pumping in the area and surface water permits along the Pedernales River. As part of the proposed line, the developers will not be able to pump groundwater or use surface water.
More development requires more water
Paula said that ensuing development, including one just feet from her driveway, has led to expanded water lines. “People along this road are having to lop off property.”
That is what is happening to Nell Penridge. “It pisses me off in a huge way.”
Nell, who moved to her home in 1993, saw the 2005 line installed. The ground was dug just up the hill from her home, then crossed to the other side of the street.
When the line was installed, many landowners were concerned about the increased development.
“If you build it, they will come. And they came. The developments came, the traffic came, the lack of water came. And we are now in the same predicament, if you will, going down west of 12,” Nell said.
In order to expand water access after one development, Belvedere, lost water multiple times over the summer, the WTCPUA will expand the line. To do that, they are turning to eminent domain and purchasing more than a dozen feet of Nell’s property.
They will remove several heritage oaks along her property and remove the bushes that provide her privacy from the busy Hamilton Pool Road.
“That which provided me privacy and a quality of life is going to be gone,” Nell said about the move.
An additional water tank will also be installed near Paula’s home to support this increased flow. Paula can see the current water tower from her bedroom balcony.
Paula is actually optimistic about Mirasol Springs. She said that the development seems to be taking all the appropriate actions, but she worries about the agreement between Mirasol and the WTCPUA could change after it is approved.
“At the meeting the other day, Scott Roberts, the president of the PUA, says, and this is totally correct. ‘He cannot bind a future board to what a future board decides to do’,” Paula said.
Paula said that the developments and landowners west of 71 do not have representation of the board.
Support for the water line
On November 14, Travis County Judge Andy Brown signed a letter on behalf of Travis County Commissioner’s Court that supported the new line under several restrictions, which include:
- The size of the water main line extension shall not exceed 3 inches with a maximum flow of 108 gallons per minute.
- The drilling of any new water wells and upon service from the WTCPLA the non-exempt
use of groundwater is prohibited. - Rainwater harvesting and storage for outdoor irrigation is mandatory.
- The use of the Pedernales River as a potable water supply to the area served by WTCPUA is
prohibited. - Mirasol will sever its groundwater estate and grant Travis County a groundwater conservation easement.
- WTCPUA water is limited to indoor use.
Activists opposing the construction of the water line have cited a 2015 study by The Meadows Center, conducted by hydrologist Doug Wierman.
That study found that the construction of a water service line, operated by the WTCPUA, led to an increase in development and depletion of groundwater along the 290 corridor and in Dripping Springs.
However, at a recent meeting of the Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District, Wierman spoke about that study. He compared the situation with the 290 pipeline and Mirasol Springs to “apples and oranges”.
“The 290 pipeline was a production pipeline put in for that purpose, where this service line to Mirasol appears to be a single service or single entity type of use. I agree with everything everybody said about the devils in the details. It certainly is. But I think from a groundwater protection perspective, this could solve a lot of your problems,” Wierman said.
The WTCPUA board will meet at Bee Cave City Hall on Nov. 18 to decide the future of the line. The meeting will begin at 11 am.
