One of the most compelling panels at this year’s Texas Groundwater Summit was called “Groundwater Crossroads: Perspectives from Agriculture, Ranching, and Wildlife.” The panel was moderated by Jim Bradbury, an attorney and adjunct professor at Texas A&M Law School, who specializes in agricultural law, water law, conservation and real estate. Bradbury was joined on the panel by David Gibson, executive director of the Texas Corn Producers; James Oliver of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association; and Andrew Earl, director of conservation at the Texas Wildlife Association.
Bradbury opened the discussion by asking the panelists to comment on how they viewed the “long-term drying trend” that Texas has been experiencing over the past decade or so. Gibson noted that “drought is something we live with” as farmers. Wells “used to be free-flowing” in dry times and some farmers liked depending on their wells because they could better control their crop irrigation. “We didn’t know any better back then,” he said. But now we “manage our water minute by minute” with “help from USDA and the soil conservation service.” Despite this assistance, 25-75% of the costs of upgrading irrigation systems and other efficiency measures are borne by the farmers, said Gibson, who are “doing everything they can” to be able to “pass their farms onto the next generations.” Oliver agreed that the situation is difficult. “We’ve been losing wells,” he said, and “some users can’t find water … We’re losing thousands of acres a year from our working lands [to non-agricultural uses] … Concrete is the last crop.” Gibson concurred by asking, “Do we want to use our water to grow food or to grow grass and play golf on?”
Bradbury framed the issue as a battle between urban growth and rural communities. “Cities have the money,” he said. “They’re going to grow, [and] agriculture is going to be sacrificed … If we call this a conflict … how do we reconcile that?” Earl responded that “it all comes down to resources to understand impacts … and put some teeth” in the regulations intended to balance uses. Gibson expressed concern that groundwater conservation districts do not have the funds to respond to challenges by cities and big users. Oliver agreed with Bradbury’s characterization of the “urban/rural divide.” But he emphasized that ranchers “really strive to be the best stewards” of the land. “We are the sponge,” he continued. “We are the key to healthy groundwater.” More collaboration is needed to deal with “carving up the land” for homes. “Not to be anti-development,” Oliver stressed, but “we need to be aware of what we’re doing” to the land.
Earl felt that “putting a value to groundwater conservation would be huge.” One idea could be more conservation easements, which involve “yielding your development right,” said Earl, in order to maintain the land “as a sponge” to catch as much of the rain that falls on the land as possible. Oliver agreed, but stressed the need to find “voluntary” ways to “incentivize conservation.”
In addition to the loss of working lands for our food supply, Bradbury wondered about the impacts of urban growth on nature. “What are the biggest threats on the horizon pertaining to wildlife and open space?” he asked the panelists. Earl stated that laws always seem to “attack conservation efforts,” and there is “growing illiteracy to the value of conserving” our open space. He also lamented that — with Texas in an extended drought — “the rains just seem to camouflage the reality we’re in.” He urged folks to look more closely and notice that springs aren’t flowing, and this is impacting wildlife. “We need to spread the word that open spaces are infrastructure. Aquifers are infrastructure.” And, as such, they need to be protected.
Gibson expressed concern about maintaining local agricultural economies. Texas is currently the “number two” agricultural state and “number three” dairy producer in the U.S., he said. “What happens to our food supply when that goes away … if we just become an urban society?” In other words, are we sleepwalking into dependence on imported food?
A member of the audience asked if any thought had been given to food security and “setting aside an untouchable water volume” for food and fiber? Bradbury responded, “I think that’s an excellent point.” In a subsequent interview with “Our Water Matters,” Bradbury elaborated that the desired future conditions (DFC) model used by groundwater conservation districts to project aquifer drawdown over a 50-year planning window “could and should be applied to a lot of areas that affect us … Just like groundwater, we should model and determine the volume [of water] and sources of food that we will need 60 years from now. Once you have made that determination, it allows you to work backwards to assess what we should be doing now” to ensure that we have the groundwater and working lands we need. “Food is too important to leave it to chance.”
Trey Gerfers serves as general manager of the Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District. A San Antonio native, he has lived in Marfa since 2013 and can be reached at tgerfers@pcuwcd.org.