Bastrop City Council Reviews Austin’s Aquifer Water Storage Proposal

The Bastrop City Council on Tuesday considered signing a memorandum of understanding with the city of Austin that would allow Bastrop city staff to gain more information about Austin’s proposed aquifer storage and recovery project in Bastrop County.

The City Council passed a resolution in April in support of Texas House Bill 1523, introduced by Republican state Rep. Stan Gerdes, which would have prevented the city of Austin from implementing its plan. HB 1523 did not become law after failing to receive approval from the state Senate.

Marisa Flores Gonzales, a program manager for Austin Water, said Austin’s plan would pump excess surface water from Austin’s drinking water system into an aquifer in Bastrop County, allowing the city to extract water during times of scarcity. She said aquifer storage and recovery, or ASR, is a key strategy in the Austin’s 100-year water plan and the state’s water plan, and the technology has successfully been installed across the state.

Gonzalez said the city of Austin started conducting a desktop study of aquifers in Travis and seven neighboring counties in 2021 to identify a potential location for the ASR project. The study concluded that the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Bastrop County would be the most suitable for Austin Water’s field testing and piloting requirements, which included proximity to the public utility’s infrastructure.

Emily Chancellor, an Austin Water public information officer, said the city of Austin is working with Bastrop County stakeholders, including the city of Bastrop, to finalize a binding agreement that will allow Austin to begin exploratory drilling and field testing for the ASR project.

“In this phase, no water would be injected into the aquifer,” Chancellor said. “We know that’s important to everyone. Groundwater and core samples would be taken and tested in a lab, so those results could be reviewed by everyone.”

Chancellor said the current draft of the agreement includes a provision to create a technical advisory group, which would include representatives of Bastrop County stakeholders. She said the city of Austin plans to offer community engagement opportunities about the project to Bastrop County residents this summer.

Chancellor said the city of Austin promises in the proposed agreement to store more water in the aquifer than it takes out, leaving at least a 5% deposit to provide a buffer to the native groundwater. She said Austin also has committed to not using eminent domain for this project, instead approaching local property owners to buy or lease land.

Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo said there have been “no less than eight meetings” between Austin and the Bastrop County stakeholders. However, the city of Bastrop must sign a memorandum of understanding to access information about the ASR project from the city of Austin, Carrillo said.

“For us to be considered a stakeholder or a partner and be eligible for information, there are certain things that we must agree to, and one of those is a memorandum of understanding,” Carrillo said.

Several City Council members continued to express concerns about the proposed ASR project and questioned why Austin wanted to build it in Bastrop County.

Council Member Cynthia Meyer said the city of Austin has lacked transparency throughout the proposal process. Meyer added that Bastrop County residents must be informed about the project at each step.

“People need to have input,” Meyer said. “We have to be an informed partner in this. Otherwise, it’s going to be just like it started. You had the information, and you didn’t give it to us. I couldn’t be more emphatic and more passionate about (saying), ‘Go back to Austin, and take it out of your aquifer.’”

Residents who spoke during citizens’ comments echoed Meyer, who said the contractual obligations felt like “blackmail.” Resident Heather Green said the proposed ASR project would require Bastrop County stakeholders to “give up everything to give them a chance to do testing.”

Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland, who led the discussion because Mayor Ishmael Harris works for Austin Water, encouraged the council to wait until October to continue discussing the contract before signing a memorandum of understanding. The council took no action on the proposal.

“The city of Austin can also take this feedback: it’s like 100% to zero in opposition among our town,” Kirkland said.