Summary of Report 03-030

April 2003

Report Number 03-030

One of the 12 groundwater conservation districts (districts) we audited-Salt Fork Underground Water Conservation District-did not achieve a majority of the objectives in its groundwater management plan. Therefore, this district is not operational. The State has no assurance that this district is adequately conserving, preserving, and protecting the groundwater it administers.

The remaining eleven districts we audited are operational and achieved a majority of the objectives in their groundwater management plans during the last two years. These districts are implementing their plans to adequately conserve, preserve, and protect the groundwater they administer.

• The Salt Fork Underground Water Conservation District is not operational.
  
  The Salt Fork Underground Water Conservation District is not operational. This district did not achieve six of the nine objectives in its groundwater management plan; it achieved the remaining three objectives. Among the objectives it did not achieve were objectives to establish a water level monitoring network, measure water levels in the monitoring network, conduct water quality testing, and participate in the Water Development Board's Agricultural Conservation Loan program. The District identified these objectives as important to conserving, preserving, and protecting its groundwater.
  
  
• The remaining eleven districts we audited are operational.
  
  The remaining eleven districts we audited have achieved a majority of the audited objectives in their groundwater management plans. Therefore, these districts are operational and are implementing their plans to adequately conserve, preserve, and protect the groundwater they administer. These eleven districts are as follows:
  
  
  • Bexar Metropolitan Water District
  • Coke County Underground Water Conservation District
    
  • Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District
    
  • Emerald Underground Water Conservation District
    
  • Fort Bend Subsidence District
    
  • Garza County Underground and Fresh Water Conservation District
    
  • Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District
    
  • Hemphill County Underground Water Conservation District
    
  • Llano Estacado Underground Water Conservation District
    
  • Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District
    
  • South Plains Underground Water Conservation District
    
    

• Since 1999, the State Auditor's Office has audited 44 districts.
  
  Including the districts we audited in this project, the State Auditor's Office has audited 44 districts since 1999; 9 of these districts were not operational. The 44 districts we have audited thus far represent 90 percent of the 49 districts eligible for audit.
  
  In addition to the one district we deemed not operational in this audit, we found eight districts that were not operational in our prior audits. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (the agency responsible for enforcing districts' compliance with groundwater management plans):
  

  • Has determined that one of these districts-Live Oak Underground Water Conservation District-is now operational.
    
  • Has entered into a compliance agreement to address the remaining finding for Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 and bring this district into operational status.
    
  • Is reviewing documentation from the remaining six districts to bring them into operational status. These six districts include the following:
    
    
    • Collingsworth County Underground Water Conservation District
      
    • Dallam County Underground Water Conservation District No. 1
      
    • Fox Crossing Water District
      
    • Permian Basin Underground Water Conservation District
      
    • Real-Edwards Conservation and Reclamation Water District
      
    • Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District
      
      

Contact the SAO about this report.

Download the PDF version of this report. (.pdf)

HTML Equivalent (utilizing Adobe's PDF Conversion by Simple Form).