[Natalie Ballew] So, groundwater is a water resource that exists
beneath the Earth's surface
in what we call an aquifer,
which is essentially just a rock formation
that can hold a certain amount of water.
[Daniel Meyer] It's always been said that the aquifer
doesn't stop at political boundaries or districts.
It continues.
[Natalie Ballew]A groundwater conservation district
is a local entity that manages groundwater resources,
and they are charged with protecting and preserving
the resources but also educating people
about how to conserve their groundwater resources
and what exactly groundwater resources are.
[Daniel Meyer] What happens in one district
could affect the other district
and vice versa.
[Natalie Ballew]Joint groundwater planning is a process
that groundwater conservation districts participate in
to essentially ask themselves
what they want their aquifer to look like in the future.
And this question gets answered
in the form of what they call a desired future condition.
[Daniel Meyer] A desired future condition is
in a nutshell what you want the aquifer to look like
for example in 20, 30, 40, 50,
60 years.
And it could be based on water levels,
what you want the water levels to be.
It could be based on spring flow.
[Natalie Ballew]And they do this so that they can ensure
that they have enough water available in the next 20 years
to support a wide range of uses.
Anything we use groundwater for
that could be domestic household use,
irrigation, and to support all the various industries
that we have in Texas.
[Dr. Brian Smith] So the groundwater districts come together
and meet periodically and exchange data
and ideas about their aquifers
and together they decide
what they want their future conditions to be,
their desired future conditions
for their part of these aquifers.
So with that in mind, they're kinda working such that
they're not working at odds with each other.
They understand
what the neighboring groundwater districts are doing,
how they're regulating groundwater,
and what they want their future conditions to be.
[Natalie Ballew] After districts come up
with their desired future conditions,
the Texas Water Development Board
provides them with a number
called the modeled available groundwater.
And that number is essentially the amount of water
that can be pumped from the ground
so that a district can actually achieve
their desired future condition,
say 20 years down the road.
[Dr. Brian Smith] So as districts come up with the desired future conditions
and those conditions are passed along
the Water Development Board,
the Water Development Board
Will do various kinds of analyses and modeling
to determine, well, under these conditions,
here's how much water is believed to be available
for pumping.
If we weren't doing this,
I don't think anybody would be collecting as much data
and interpreting it
if the district didn't exist
And that would mean that no one is paying attention
to how much pumping is going on in the aquifer,
whether we're in drought or not,
And what all the implications of pumping are.
[Natalie Ballew] What the Water Development Board does
in conjunction with groundwater conservation districts
specifically with joint groundwater planning
is critical to the future water supplies of Texas
because groundwater and surface water,
the life of Texas and economy depends on it.
And our quality of life really depends
on what our water supplies are.
(water splashing)