Technical Reports Document Library

The South Central Texas Water Advisory Committee submits a report assessing the effectiveness of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) every two years to the EAA Board of Directors and to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This is the Advisory Committee’s report on the effectiveness of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) during the period from October of 2004 through September of 2006.

During the period of review, the EAA has generally performed well in its planning and research activities. The EAA successfully accomplished a transition in its general manager position, and the EAA Board approved a new, flexible strategic plan.

In its regulatory role managing pumping from the Aquifer, the EAA reached a notable achievement by completing the review and issuance of initial regular permit applications. The EAA continued to deal with significant policy issues related to the annual limit on permitted withdrawals and the guaranteed permit minimums. The EAA Board’s decisions on these issues continued to reflect a preference for protection of the interests that rely on pumping from the Aquifer over those that rely on springflow from the Aquifer. The backdrop to these decisions has been an extended period of relatively high Aquifer levels and the absence of low springflows such as in the summers of 1990, 1991 and 1996.