Groundwater shortage limits development in Parker Co.

Posted on March 20th, 2015

A subdivision is being put on hold due to a ground water shortage(Photo: WFAA) Demand is growing for nice rural subdivisions in west Parker County, but when a developer tried to build a new one next to a neighborhood near Brock, he ran into the new reality: not enough water. "There would be times when it would draw down the aquifer quite a bit. Some of those wells may not be able to produce," said Doug Shaw, a general manager of the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation district. The district was created six years ago to protect water supplies. It allows only one well for every two acres. The developer proposed one well per acre for 34 lots. Shaw says on a hot day, 34 new wells could quickly drop the aquifer level. "Like 10 feet in a half hour or so. Once stabilized it would come back up," Shaw said. A nearby monitoring well shows a stair step decline over the last 10 years -- a decrease of about eight feet, or roughly 25 percent. ...Read More