When neither the city or the county can help

When neither the city or the county can help

Written by Tiffany Young Friday, 26 September 2008

Anderson Mill Estates, south of Anderson Mill Road and the Anderson Mill Municipal Utility District, is unincorporated, meaning it is not within any municipality's boundaries. The neighborhood will be annexed into the city of Austin at the end of the year, but until the city can find a way to get the residents water, they are on their own.

A lack of consistent rain in Central Texas has caused the community’s wells to begin drying up, and since they are not within Austin city limits and counties are not obligated to provide water, some residents are having to take extreme measures to obtain water.

Water usage

About 80 percent of the nearly 110 households in Anderson Mill Estates rely solely on the Glen Rose Aquifer for water. With a few exceptions, these homes are served by private wells and septic tanks. But with neighbors in surrounding subdivisions tapping into that water source to irrigate their lawns, residents relying on the aquifer’s water tables are facing troubling times during an ongoing drought.

Annexation

Also being annexed Dec. 31 is the Anderson Mill Municipal Utility District, which already had an inter-local agreement with the city of Austin to provide residents water. Since July, MUD residents have been billed for water usage directly from the city. Anderson Mill Estates, Anderson Mill Oaks Addition, the Parke at Anderson Oaks subdivision and the Retreat at Anderson Mill townhouse condominiums make up 183 acres of the unincorporated areas to be annexed along with the MUD.

After being annexed, construction of facilities needed to provide access to centralized water and wastewater collection by Austin must be substantially complete within 2.5 years, unless the service plan has a schedule for completing these facilities within 4.5 years.

“We are lucky now that we’re being annexed this next year by the city of Austin; we’re going to get water in the next two years, probably. So, we’re not as worried as we were before,” said Amanda Brown, past president of Anderson Mill Estates. “We used to be very worried, obviously, but now we have a little bit of hope in sight that we’re going to get water.”

Regulation

Unlike the Edwards Aquifer, the Lower Glen Rose Aquifer does not have a water district, except in Bexar County. A water district regulates water usage, and voters must approve the formation of a water district on a ballot referendum.

“If someone can drill a well deeper than yours next door and suck the water out of the water level from what you’re drawing, that’s the rule of capture. If the guy next door can afford a deeper, longer straw that’s more powerful, the rule of capture says that’s OK,” Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt said. “Texas has a very, very unique body of water distribution law. Texas, in my understanding, is such a fiercely property rights state that it clings desperately to the right of capture.”

Conservation

Erica Clift and her husband moved their family to Anderson Mill Estates two years ago from California. Since California has shortages, Clift was used to conserving water. She’s been surprised to find that regulations in Texas are quite different.

“In California in times of drought, pretty extreme measures are taken,” Clift said. “Granted, everyone pretty much is using public water systems and not wells, but the premise is the same — or should be. We all need to be conscientious of our most precious and important resource.”

Clift and her family have been trying to do their part in conserving water — she has been limiting her showers to every other day, bathing her children twice a week and doing laundry as seldom as possible. Clift’s children have also had to forgo playing in the kiddie pool and the misting hose this summer.

“We don’t have grass in our yard — we have native ground cover that came right back to green and lovely as soon as it rained. We also have a very small garden which we let go this year as a conservation measure,” Clift said. “I wish more people would realize the impact of their selfish ways, like turning off the water while brushing your teeth and shaving.”

The city of Austin is in the process of surveying and is expected to meet with the neighborhoods in the next few months to set a timeline in place.

President of Anderson Mill Estates Gerald McBrearty said the earliest he believes water could come to the area would be the summer of 2011.

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