Article mentioning a meeting I attended and spoke at that obviously angered the CEO of SAWS. Posted: Saturday, October 11, 2014 12:34 am By Greg Bowen New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung New Braunfels could improve its water-supply situation by following the example of the San Antonio Water System, according to SAWS CEO Robert Puente. “What we’re doing actually is what I think New Braunfels should be doing,” Puente said during a Sept. 29 public forum and panel discussion on SAWS’ proposed Vista Ridge water-supply project held at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Puente had a lot to say about the way New Braunfels is handling its water-supply needs after being asked by former New Braunfels City Councilman Richard Zapata whether the Vista Ridge water could be used to supplement the Edwards Aquifer and increase the flow of New Braunfels’ Comal Springs, which has fallen to near-historic lows. Puente didnt answer the question but said New Braunfels could be under Stage 2 water-use restrictions like SAWS’ customers are — rather than the more severe Stage 3 restrictions now being imposed in New Braunfels — “if you did what we did.” “New Braunfels could ... easily be in Stage 2 also if you did what we did, and if you did what our ratepayers are paying for, and that is, for example, a direct recycle system.” Puente, a former state legislator, said New Braunfels is “finally” talking about building a recycled water system. “Weve had one online for the last 15 years,” he said. Puente went on to say that New Braunfels should seek more non-Edwards sources of water. “You could ask your ratepayers to start paying for alternate sources of water. For example, we have Trinity water, Carrizo water (and) our desal project that our community is paying for. All of these extra sources are the reasons why we don’t have to go into other stages,” Puente said. Puente acknowledged that New Braunfels has “diversified off the Edwards,” but said it isnt really using its Edwards supplies properly. “Your Edwards permits are used when? During peak periods when the aquifer is most stressed,” he said. New Braunfels could also do a better job in cutting its per capita water use, Puente said. “You could also talk about driving down your per capita use to where San Antonio has it. Ours is currently about 124 gallons per person per day,” he said. The SAWS CEO also addressed the issue, brought up by Zapata, of SAWS claiming more than its fair share of Edwards water compared to other communities over the aquifer. “... We have more than our share of permits if you (figure) it by a per capita basis. The reason we do is because we have purchased permits from farmers in Uvalde, farmers in Medina County, which New Braunfels can very easily do also. All you have to do is buy them on paper and pump it out of your existing wells,” said Puente. SAWS’ top man also said he doesn’t understand the criticism SAWS gets for doing the “great, innovative things” it does. “These great, innovative things are being done by going to our ratepayers, asking them for rate increases, getting (approval) from city council and then doing the right thing with that money: Diversifying our water supply,” Puente said. NBU responds Gretchen Reuwer, communications manager of New Braunfels Utilities, responded Thursday to Puente’s remarks, pointing out NBU’s successful efforts at diversifying the city’s water supply and cutting its dependence on the Edwards. “The fact of the matter is that NBU led the way in diversification of water supplies by Edwards Aquifer permit holders,” Reuwer said. In 1991, the municipal utility secured 6,750 acre-feet of water from Canyon Reservoir via the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and 2,240 acre-feet of Guadalupe River run-of-river rights, which resulted in NBU cutting its Edwards Aquifer usage by approximately 85 percent, she said. Even 23 years later, NBU’s Edwards Aquifer usage remains reduced by about 65 percent from 1991 levels, Reuwer said. “Over the past decade, NBU’s annual water usage has averaged 34.5 percent from the Edwards and 65.5 percent from surface water,” Reuwer said. NBU has also continued to acquire more water rights to add to its diversified supply, including an additional 4,712 acre-feet of Guadalupe run-of-river rights in 2002, a purchase of 2,000 acre feet of Edwards rights from Cemex in 2009 and an additional 3,000 acre-feet of Canyon Reservoir water in 2011, she said. In 2015, NBU will bring online a 4,000 acre-foot per year Trinity Aquifer well field. “We are also in the process of securing a site for an Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) system. An ASR provides the ability to store treated water underground during wet years when there is excess supply and then use that supply to boost water availability when drought restrictions are placed on the normal annual permitted amount,” Reuwer said. NBU will continue to investigate additional, affordable water supplies from any source that is financially and contractually sound, Reuwer said. “In that way, we can continue to add to our already diverse supply for the long term.” On the subject of reuse water, Reuwer said reuse has been a long-time focus for New Braunfels Utilities. In 1994, she said, NBU retrofitted the Gruene Wastewater Treatment Plant in order to provide reuse water to the then-Sundance Executive Golf Course on Common Street. Today, the Sundance Villas, Health Care Center and Cancer Center, which replaced the golf course, continue to use the reuse water for their landscape watering needs, she said. As far as per capita water use, New Braunfels rivals San Antonio’s 124 gallons per person per day. Reuwer said New Braunfels’ per capita use ranges between 115 and 135 gallons per person per day, depending on factors such as occupancy levels of apartments and the number of transient visitors New Braunfels sees each year. Concerning Puente’s allegation that New Braunfels uses its Edwards supplies during “peak periods,” Reuwer said: “We use our Edwards permits year-round ... just like SAWS does. Their use of their ASR does not mean they have stopped using the Edwards during the peak demand of summer.” SAWS comments SAWS Communication Manager Anne Hayden said Wednesday that Puente did not wish to add anything to his Sept. 29 comments. Hayden said the remarks were made in the context of a larger and very animated discussion about the controversial Vista Ridge project, which would import enough groundwater from Burleson County to serve 162,000 new San Antonio families. “It was a very long day, and I think that tempers were a bit short,” she said. “It’s frustrating because we feel that we’re criticized not to use the Edwards, but we’re also criticized when we try to develop an alternative supply.” “I can’t say that Mr. Puente was wrong,” Hayden said. “He said things that were factual. As a PR person, I probably wouldn’t have phrased it that way. It was a difficult discussion, but he felt that he needed to say it in the face of all the other discussions that were being had,” Hayden said. Puente was responding to a question following a lengthy statement by Zapata, which could be described as contentious. Zapata said, for example, that SAWS is supporting a LULAC effort to boost San Antonio’s voting power on the Edwards Aquifer Authority board at the expense of New Braunfels and other communities — and referenced a recent flare-up between SAWS and the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, which questioned SAWS’ midsummer switch from ASR water back to Edwards pumping. “It’s not that Mr. Puente was trying to insult New Braunfels in any way,” Hayden said. “He was pointing out the facts and defending San Antonio. His push back was because there was a criticism of San Antonio — implied or actual — that we weren’t doing our part. Factually, we are doing our part.” To watch the discussion online, go to youtu.be/nnDx55lrON0. The remarks in question begin at about the 1:31 time mark on the video.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 13:57:48 +0000
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