Rockdale’s Patterson Civic Center will be the site of the second of three meetings Thursday to introduce land owners to a new program the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District says will preserve and protect aquifers.
Time is 6 to 9 p.m.
The first meeting was held last Thursday in the Caldwell Civic Center.
A final meeting is set for 5:30 to 9 p.m. July 10 at the POSGCD office in Milano.
PROGRAM—According to the district, owners would commit their groundwater resources into a “strictly voluntary” long-term conservation program and would be paid for their “stewardship efforts.”
The POSGCD said exact amounts are still to be determined but preliminary estimates are $5 to $6 per acre, per year, with bonuses for longer terms.
It is for land owners in Milam and Burleson Counties. That’s the area the POSGCD covers.
The water district urged “any landowner in Milam and Burleson Counties interested in conserving the water in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer” to attend.
The new program calls for landowners to be paid for each acre at the end of every year they are enrolled in the program.
It terms the effort “a volunteer stewardship program for landowners to protect the aquifers in Milam and Burleson Counties by placing their groundwater reserves into a legacy conservation program.”
The program is to be funded with fees collected by the district and payments are to be disbursed annually, according to the district.
The POSGCD says landowners will still maintain full ownership and control of their private property and “can still drill or maintain an exempt well for domestic and livestock uses.”
A preliminary timetable indicates POSGCD board adoption of the program Jan. 8, 2019, and first payments to begin in January, 2021.
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