Each month, municipal and water district water conservationists from across the metroplex gather together as part of WENNT – the Water Efficiency Network of North Texas - to share information and meet with water conservation leaders to learn more about how to promote water-efficient, water-conserving principles and practices in their own jurisdictions.  

As part of the week-long National Groundwater Awareness Week, Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District and the City of Grand Prairie Water Utilities Department hosted the latest meeting on Friday, March 13. 

Attendees heard about groundwater, groundwater conservation districts, the connection between ground and surface water, and statewide water conservation news from speaker Dr. Bob Patterson, general manager, Northern Trinity Groundwater Conservation District.  In addition, Jim Siddall, water operations manager, City of Grand Prairie discussed his city’s water-conserving landscaping initiatives and their implementation history as demonstration garden areas at their water facilities.

For more information about the Water Efficiency Network of North Texas or Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District, contact Karen Siddall, public relations and education administrator, Prairielands GCD, at 817-556-2299.

Representatives from Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District brought their water conservation message to Cleburne ISD’s Adams Elementary on Friday, November 21, as part of their ongoing public awareness program in Johnson, Somervell, Hill, and Ellis counties. Fifth grade students in Ms. Joni Hundley’s science classes learned the basics of conserving water indoors in a unique way – by participating in an interactive environmental play.

The play which has no rehearsals, no special costumes, and no long hours of memorizing dialogue is completed in a regular 50 minute class period.  Props are literally supplied by the students themselves.  The students, divided into small groups of 4 or 5 members, figure out how to arrange their bodies together and interact with each other to become the props used during the course of the play.  Groups end up becoming items as diverse as a helicopter, a fountain, or an inflatable seahorse float like the kind found in a baby pool.

Students had a fun and boisterous time but when all the “props” were combined they still learned how to conserve water in their homes by doing simple things such as turning off the tap while brushing their teeth. “Out of all the water conservation tips we talk about, turning off the water while they brush their teeth is probably the one main behavior change children their age can do, on their own, to save water,” said Karen Siddall, public relations and education administrator for the Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District. “Students were given a new toothbrush to take home as a reminder to put some of what they learned into practice.”

In 2008, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) designated large areas from the Red River to Central Texas as “priority groundwater management areas” due to the critical groundwater declines projected to face the area over the next 50 years. This area included 18 counties that overlaid 2 major underground water formations known as the Trinity and Woodbine aquifers.

As a result, the TCEQ required the counties in these areas to create groundwater conservation districts led by area residents to develop rules and guidance regarding conservation and protection of the aquifers’ resources while meeting the specific needs of the communities involved. If they did not, the TCEQ would create districts for them.

Ellis, Hill, Johnson, and Somervell counties partnered to propose the Prairielands Groundwater Conservation District (Prairielands GCD) which was subsequently approved by the Texas legislature in 2009. Since then, the district has conducted scientific research on local aquifers, educated the public about groundwater and conservation issues and registered approximately 1,000 wells. The work of the district is funded entirely through registration fees and water production fees on nonexempt wells. (Domestic wells, agricultural wells and any wells that produce less than 25 gallons per minute are exempt from water production fee rules and well metering.)

Additionally, Prairielands GCD protects property values by preserving the quantity and quality of groundwater for future generations. The district is gathering aquifer level and pumping data in an attempt to better understand how current water use impacts groundwater supplies.

For further information, visit http://www.prairielandsgcd.org/.