Withdrawal of Item 54

[Colleen Pate]

Council--

In consultation with Austin Water and colleagues, I am asking the City Manager to withdraw Item 54 on the Council agenda.

The item is a collaboration agreement with Bastrop County entities to advance field testing of water and soil samples in a laboratory for a possible future Aquifer Storage and Recovery project, also known as ASR. The agreement defines commitments by the City of Austin to address concerns raised by stakeholders in Bastrop County.

I have worked closely with Austin Water throughout the legislative session and since then related to the ASR project. Since April of this year, Bastrop stakeholders and Austin Water have worked diligently to create this Collaboration Agreement with the goal of creating a path forward for a potential ASR project in Bastrop County. The 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.

Austin Water has done an outstanding job of engaging the Bastrop County community. Austin Water provided space to engage with the Bastrop community through an online survey and comments, held eight public meetings in September in Bastrop County and talked to nearly 300 residents during these meetings. The resulting public comments and responses are documented in a report posted to this agenda item.

The water-related entities (Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, Aqua Water Supply Corporation, Bastrop County Water Conservation and Improvement District #2, and Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund) approved the Collaboration Agreement. Elected bodies, however, including Bastrop County, the City of Smithville, and the City of Bastrop, have not approved the agreement. In addition, State Representative Stan Gerdes has written to us to state his continued opposition to the project.

While 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’t reach the level of partnership that we need for this project’s success. As a result, the best path forward is to table this Collaboration Agreement and allow Austin Water to devote funding and resources to alternative approaches in our 100-year water plan – Water Forward.

While we are tabling this action and as a result, Austin Water is not pursuing field testing in Bastrop County, we will continue to work with our neighbors on regional water planning through the Texas Water Development Board's Region K water planning group. We routinely partner with Bastrop County and others as neighbors on many local issues, including emergency response, flood mitigation, public safety, and infrastructure planning. None of that will change.

This has been a lot of work by City of Austin and Bastrop County entities. I want to thank them for their work. They have been excellent. I want to especially thank Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson, who has been an unwavering champion for this project and ensuring Austin and Central Texas are prepared for the future. I am pleased that good planning by our professional staff will support the important work we need to protect and prepare for our future.

Thanks,

Kirk
On Behalf of Mayor Watson