AUSTIN, TX — The Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District announces that the Texas Water Development Board’s Executive Administrator has approved the district’s management plan. The approval follows a successful mediation between the TWDB and the district where the parties worked to resolve the dispute over whether the 2010 desired future conditions (DFCs) could be reinstated as the management standard for the district.

The dispute arose when the district’s management plan came up for renewal and the members of GMA 14 had not adopted new DFCs for the district following the successful petition of the 2016 DFCs. The district and TWDB agreed on specific language for the plan that addressed the district’s concerns but also included the information TWDB requires for administrative completeness. To satisfy the requirement for administrative completeness and obtain approval, the plan acknowledges that the 2016 DFCs were found to be no longer reasonable and refers to the 2010 DFCs because those were the last unchallenged DFCs adopted in joint planning. The plan also acknowledges that the district is actively working with other members of GMA 14 to propose appropriate DFCs by May 1, 2021 and adopt final DFCs by January 5, 2022.

The re-adoption of a revised management plan also allowed the district to update the plan with the district’s most current goals and objectives, including the district’s commitment to conduct a multiphase subsidence study specific to Montgomery County — the first of its kind. The district is actively working on revised rules and aims to have draft rules published for public review and comment sometime this summer.