DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Ben Gorzell, Chief Financial Officer
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED:
SUBJECT: Briefing on Funding Alternative for Edwards Aquifer Protection Program
SUMMARY: This item is a briefing on a funding alternative to continue funding of the City's Edwards Aquifer Protection Program.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Edwards Aquifer provides San Antonio with an abundant and vital source of groundwater. It stretches across thousands of acres over several counties in South Central Texas. Roughly 70 percent of San Antonio's water originates as recharge from counties located west of Bexar County. Rainfall enters the Edwards Aquifer through fractures, caves, sinkholes and other features and replenishes the Aquifer. However, rapid growth and development over the recharge and contributing zones of the Aquifer adversely impact it by reducing the number of recharge features able to maintain San Antonio's primary water resource.
In May 2000, San Antonio voters approved a proposition which initiated the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program (EAPP) with funding from a portion of a 1/8-cent venue sales tax. The EAPP protects the Edwards Aquifer through the acquisition of property rights including fee simple purchases, conservation easements, and donations of land over the sensitive zones of the Aquifer. Perpetual conservation easements benefit San Antonio residents by limiting the amount of increased impervious cover allowable on the protected properties in order to preserve the quantity and quality of water recharging in the Edwards Aquifer.
On April 6, 2000, the Conservation Advisory Board (CAB) was created to provide input and advice on the EAPP. The CAB is comprised of nine members appointed by the San Antonio City Council for two-year terms. City Ordinance provides for nominees from the following subdivisions, agencies or organizations: Texas Parks and Wildlife, Edwards Aquifer Authority, San Antonio River Authority, San Ant...
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