COMMISSIONERS CREEK RESCUE REVISITED

COMMISSIONERS CREEK RESCUE REVISITED

This past summer, Camp OTX, located off FM 470 at the headwaters of Commissioners Creek, a major tributary of the Hondo, disregarded state and county drought notices and continued to pump groundwater into its recreational lakes at a time when others in the community had wells go dry. The camp has received a Notice of Violation from Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District (BCRAGD). To date, no response has yet been noted from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

At the time of his land acquisition, the owner of Camp OTX had to be compelled by public pressures with BDRAGD and TCEQ, from the Friends of Hondo Canyon and the general public, to submit to any limitation whatsoever on his use of ground water and of the spring-fed water of Commissioners Creek. Once the proprietor did consent to be governed by the rulings of BCRAGD and TCEQ and was granted go-ahead approval for his development, he has apparently ignored and flouted these agreed-upon restrictions. Both these regulatory agencies should exercise their fullest powers to compel this scoff-law operator to cease and desist from his violations, and to pay whatever fines may be deemed appropriate by statute or ruling, or else to shut down his pumping altogether, for whatever reason he may allege.

Conservation regulations are meaningless unless we all honor them. It may take another public outcry and protest petitions to restart the engines of enforcement machinery to restore general adherence to public conservation policies that should protect our precious Hill Country waters from acquisitive predatory abusers.

Bill Cornelison

Bandera, Texas