{"id":58263,"date":"2025-11-20T21:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/58263\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T21:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:04:08","slug":"austin-water-halts-aquifer-storage-and-recovery-project-efforts-in-bastrop-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/58263\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Water halts Aquifer Storage and Recovery project efforts in Bastrop County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAustin Water is no longer pursuing an Aquifer Storage and Recovery project<\/a> in Bastrop County.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

Although Austin City Council was scheduled to vote on a collaboration agreement with Bastrop County entities, which would have advanced the project to a field testing phase, Austin Water withdrew the item from the Nov. 20 Austin City Council agenda.<\/p>\n

The decision was announced Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Austin put our best foot forward to achieve the collaboration and partnership that would be needed to complete testing and eventually build such a regional project, we didn\u2019t reach the level of partnership that is needed,\u201d Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson said in a memorandum sent to Austin City Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino noted the agenda item removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe residents in Bastrop won,\u201d she said in a Nov. 19 statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bastrop County entities that did not approve the collaboration agreement included:<\/p>\n

Bastrop County entities that approved the collaboration agreement included:Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation DistrictAqua Water Supply CorporationBastrop County Water Conservation and Improvement District No. 2Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense FundZooming in<\/p>\n

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson discussed the removal of the agenda item in a post to Austin City Council\u2019s message board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent was to pursue the project with a good-neighbor approach that would provide protections and benefits for the Bastrop County community while meeting water supply needs for Austin Water customers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t reach the level of partnership that we need for this project\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some context<\/p>\n

The ASR project, which was approved as part of Austin\u2019s Water Forward Plan<\/a>, aimed to store and draw water at the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer through a facility Austin officials planned to build in northeast Bastrop County, as previously reported by Community Impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have committed to putting in more than we take out,\u201d said Emlea Chanslor, who works in the public information office at Austin Water, during a July 8 Bastrop City Council meeting. \u201cAt least a 5% deposit will not be withdrawn, and that will help create a buffer zone and protect the health of the aquifer.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Austin Water officials planned to first launch a three-year scientific study\u2014which would have tested water compatibility in a lab\u2014in late 2025 to explore the feasibility of storing drinking water underground in Bastrop County\u2019s portion of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.<\/p>\n

Local officials, including Bastrop Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland, repeatedly voiced their opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m speaking in my official capacity as the acting mayor pro tem of the city of Bastrop<\/a>, representing approximately 13,000 residents,\u201d he said during the public hearing portion of an Oct. 27 Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting. \u201cThis court and the city Bastrop share the same opinion\u2014that this project should not come to Bastrop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notable quote<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin Water will continue to advance water supply storage strategies from the council-adopted Water Forward Plan,\u201d Roalson said.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin Water is no longer pursuing an Aquifer Storage and Recovery project in Bastrop County. The details Although…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[31387,31382,31381,132,134,133,31380,13491,31388,31383,4129,31386,31384,31389,31385,31379],"class_list":["post-58263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-aqua-water-supply-corporation","tag-aquifer-storage-and-recovery","tag-asr","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-austin-water","tag-bastrop","tag-bastrop-county-water-conservation-and-improvement-district-no-2","tag-john-kirkland","tag-kirk-watson","tag-lost-pines-groundwater-conservation-district","tag-shay-roalson","tag-simsboro-aquifer-water-defense-fund","tag-smithville","tag-sylvia-carrillo-trevino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}