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2 minutes ago, CleverNickname said:

If this dude gets away with it, I'm damming up the creek on my place. Imma get mine.

We should have a little party on the part of the river that goes through that guy's place though, since we would be on a public waterway and he couldn't do shit about it.  If his illegal dam stops us from going down stream and we party right there, so be it.

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6 minutes ago, CleverNickname said:

If this dude gets away with it, I'm damming up the creek on my place. Imma get mine.

This mindset is how we destroy what's left of the social contract. Fuck that rich racist asshole for stealing water from the LCRA, and fuck our state for giving him cover. 

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  • 5 months later...

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/hays/study-shows-that-texas-has-nearly-3-times-more-dry-springs-than-50-years-ago/
 

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 The number of dry springs in Texas has nearly tripled in the last 50 years, according to new research out of Texas State University.

Robert Mace, Ph.D., Meadows Center Executive Director, and Nohemi Galaviz, a research assistant, followed up on a 1975 report that assessed springs across the state. Using methods such as satellite imagery, historical maps and fieldwork, the researchers revealed that 30% of the springs examined in the 1975 report are now dry. 

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“Quite a few more springs have gone dry since that initial study,” Mace told KXAN. “That corresponds almost almost exactly with the amount of groundwater that we’ve pumped out of states off rivers.”

Groundwater provides around 60% of Texas’ total water use, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Mace said if the state continues to rely so heavily on groundwater, more springs will dry up.  “At some point, we’ll run out of groundwater,” he said “When you see [springs] drying up, that’s an indication that [we are] probably pumping more than what’s coming back in.” 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Jason Sudeikis Yes GIF by Apple TV+
 

https://www.kxan.com/texas-water/illegal-dam-on-james-river-torn-down-while-another-dam-pops-up-in-mason-county/

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— An illegal dam in the Texas Hill Country is being demolished following reports from KXAN. The dam, constructed along the James River in Mason County, was built in 2023.

Investigations from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) found the dam was constructed without permits.

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Meanwhile, in western Mason County, a second dam has been located along Leon Creek. This dam was also built without permits, according to TPWD.

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While water now flows on the James River, ten miles away at Leon Creek in Mason County, another illegal dam built in a remote area is restricting access to water. Photos taken last fall. provided to KXAN by landowners in Mason County, show a dam built along Leon Creek. 

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In September, my husband went to check the cattle and went down to where the creek goes into the Llano river. And the creek was only a trickle,” said Kerry Hormann, a landowner in Mason County. 

Hofmann’s family has owned land along Leon Creek for more than a century. She said this is the first time it has stopped flowing. Neighbors living further upstream told Hofmann they had discovered a dam had appeared along the creek

crOX5_IMG_1224_20240426084146423-rotated

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11 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Finally, a good use for all that tannerite that academy keeps stocking. 

But on a serious note, this is only gonna get worse as water becomes more scarce and temperatures get hotter. 

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6 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:

TPWD and TCEQ need to look into drones or planes to check the water ways then fine the shit out of the offenders. Especially repeat offenders.

IMO they'd be better served contracting an orbital imaging firm to get regular site pictures for the rivers. Once they've got that image data it's pretty easy to throw a computer vision model at em to identify active building sites

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Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

IMO they'd be better served contracting an orbital imaging firm to get regular site pictures for the rivers. Once they've got that image data it's pretty easy to throw a computer vision model at em to identify active building sites

That'll work, too. They should also let the ranchers visit with the offenders so they can express their displeasure.

Edited by Steel Shank
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3 hours ago, swraith said:

I'm pleasantly surprised and pleased to see first illegal dam being dismantled.  Landowners are going to have to raise their level of vigilance on these kinds of illegal acts going forward.

It seems like they are getting reported to the local authorities, but it takes the news media putting their shit on blast and talking to TPWD, TCEQ, etc. to get things done.

1 hour ago, Steel Shank said:

TPWD and TCEQ need to look into drones or planes to check the water ways then fine the shit out of the offenders. Especially repeat offenders.

Mere fines won’t work - these rich fuckers would happily pay the fines if they got to keep the water from going downstream. They are putting in some heavy duty infrastructure - that’s not Joe Bob Smith filling up his pickup to make a small dam or divert some water for his cattle. I’d even argue that based on how expensive it was to put in these dams, they were counting on only getting fined. Wouldn’t surprise me if they had an arrangement with local officials,

As it is, with the first dam, they get to keep 90 feet of the 400 foot dam as “access ramps”.

And a 400 foot dam is fucking huge

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8 hours ago, Captainant said:

IMO they'd be better served contracting an orbital imaging firm to get regular site pictures for the rivers. Once they've got that image data it's pretty easy to throw a computer vision model at em to identify active building sites

Yep. They’re gonna get Monkey Wrench Gang’d at some point if they keep fucking around. 
 

and I’m almost outta beer. 

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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/aqua-texas-complaint-illegal-groundwater-supply-wimberley/269-febaf88a-39da-4f25-8ed5-4a91de6d65ea

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Aqua Texas violating its authorized groundwater production limits by 90 million gallons in 2022

Aqua Texas exceeded its production limits by an additional 70 million gallons in 2023

Aqua Texas lost 55 million gallons of water due to leaks in its infrastructure and a lack of maintenance – a direct violation of the PUC’s requirements to maintain infrastructure and State and District prohibitions on wasting groundwater

Aqua Texas' actions caused Jacob’s Well to stop flowing on multiple days when it otherwise would have been flowing 

Aqua Texas allegedly misrepresented the number of connections within its service areas when it requested authority from the PUC to sell water in those areas, claiming a smaller number than actually existed. Since that time, the number of connections the company represented to the PUC has grown by 65% - without the company ever demonstrating to the PUC it has an adequate water supply

Aqua Texas' continual adding of customers in Hays County communities despite not having a legal water supply

 

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9 hours ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Aqua Texas' actions caused Jacob’s Well to stop flowing on multiple days when it otherwise would have been flowing 

Aqua Texas allegedly misrepresented the number of connections within its service areas when it requested authority from the PUC to sell water in those areas, claiming a smaller number than actually existed. Since that time, the number of connections the company represented to the PUC has grown by 65% - without the company ever demonstrating to the PUC it has an adequate water supply

Aqua Texas' continual adding of customers in Hays County communities despite not having a legal water supply

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Aqua Texas don't give a fuck because they'll happily pay the fines and keep doing what they are doing.  Only way things would change is if somebody threatened to put an end to their business and that won't happen.  Jacob's Well this year, strict water rationing for non-Aqua Texas customers, etc.

Because:

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The KVUE Defenders previously looked into the issues between the two after the utility over-pumped its water allotment in 2022, resulting in nearly half a million dollars worth of fines.

 Half-a-million in fines and they kept on doing it.

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8 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

It was announced today that Jacob’s Well is closed for swimming this summer due to low flow. They will check monthly but it doesn’t look great. Thanks Aqua Texas.

Hey, at least they were able to deliver some sweet sweet profitability to their shareholders at the mere cost of destroying a public natural resource

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Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

It was announced today that Jacob’s Well is closed for swimming this summer due to low flow. They will check monthly but it doesn’t look great. Thanks Aqua Texas.

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Hey, at least they were able to deliver some sweet sweet profitability to their shareholders at the mere cost of destroying a public natural resource

33 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

These people need to be arrested. 

The parent company of Aqua Texas is headquartered in Pennsylvania so nothing will change other than they’ll pay the fines and keep in pumping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Utilities

Edited by atomheartbevo
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On 4/30/2024 at 2:49 PM, Steel Shank said:

TPWD and TCEQ need to look into drones or planes to check the water ways then fine the shit out of the offenders. Especially repeat offenders.

Buy a few drones from Ukraine and solve the problem as soon as they find it. 

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Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Aqua Texas is the worst fucking company I've ever dealt with.  Far worse than AT&T/Directv...

Those fuckers didn't even have a backup generator for the water system in Wimberley, so that one time when the power went out, everyone had no water for 2 days and had to boil water for two weeks.

Edited by Beau Vine
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10 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Aqua Texas is the worst fucking company I've ever dealt with.  Far worse than AT&T/Directv...

Those fuckers didn't even have a backup generator for the water system in Wimberley, so that one time when the power went out, everyone had no water for 2 days and had to boil water for two weeks.

If we had non-corrupt state officials, this company would be shut down and the owners arrested for presenting a public health hazard.  Or something.  What world is this we have created where they can get away with this?

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48 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

If we had non-corrupt state officials, this company would be shut down and the owners arrested for presenting a public health hazard.  Or something.  What world is this we have created where they can get away with this?

But that wouldn't be "business-friendly."  Did you know that Texas is business-friendly?  What kind of librul commie wants Texas to not be business-friendly?

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2 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Aqua Texas is the worst fucking company I've ever dealt with.  Far worse than AT&T/Directv...

Those fuckers didn't even have a backup generator for the water system in Wimberley, so that one time when the power went out, everyone had no water for 2 days and had to boil water for two weeks.

They also lose a tremendous amount of water due to not maintaining pipes. Their board should all be in jail

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It will be interesting to see what the state does here re: Aqua. There are two (at least) regulatory issues here. The first is with regards to the groundwater district being able to recover damages for the overpumping by Aqua, which will end up in court. The second is with regards to Aquas inability to maintain minium regulatory capacity in its public water supply system in violation of state law. I could see they're CCN being revoked, though doubt any entity will be willing to take it over.

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