AGENDA FAR WEST TEXAS WATER PLANNING GROUP REGION E MEETING. Thursday, June 2, :30 P.M. (CDT) 100 N. 13 th Street Alpine, Texas 79830

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1 Individuals with special needs may contact our office five (5) working days prior to the meeting date to request special accommodations. AGENDA FAR WEST TEXAS WATER PLANNING GROUP REGION E MEETING Thursday, June 2, :30 P.M. (CDT) 100 N. 13 th Street Alpine, Texas Roll Call and Determination of Quorum. Consent Agenda 2. Approval of Minutes of the FWTWPG April 7, 2016 Meeting 3. Financial Report Regular Agenda 4. Recognition of Guests and Designated Alternates 5. Member Updates 6. Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Updates - Thomas Barnett, Project Manager 7. TWDB Population and Water Demand Projections 2021 Regional Water Plans - Yun Cho, Team Lead, Economic & Demographic Analysis 8. Update from LBG-Guyton Associates on the TWDB Consultants Technical Committee Meeting 9. Officers and Executive Committee Elections ( ) 10. Discuss and consider a date for next regular meeting 11. Adjourn Notice to the Public: All matters listed under the Consent Agenda will be considered by the FWTWPG to be routine and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless any of the members of the FWTWPG request that specific items be removed from the Consent Agenda and added to the Regular Agenda for discussion prior to the time the FWTWPG votes on the motion to adopt the Consent Agenda. For additional information contact Annette Gutierrez, Rio Grande Council of Governments, 8037 Lockheed Drive, Suite 100, El Paso, Texas Phone (915) ext. 114, fax (915) , annetteg@riocog.org

2 AGENDA FAR WEST TEXAS WATER PLANNING GROUP REGION E MEETING Thursday, June 2, :30 P.M. (CDT) 100 N. 13 th Street Alpine, Texas Approval of Minutes of the FWTWPG April 7, 2016 Meeting.

3 FAR WEST TEXAS WATER PLANNING GROUP REGION E MEETING Thursday, April 7, :30 P.M. (MDT) Alameda Ave Clint, TX Voting Members Tom Beard, Chairman Scott Reinert, Vice-Chairman Paige Waggonner, Secretary Chuy Reyes, General Manager, EPWID #1 Arlina Palacios, Public Commissioner Jim Ed Miller, Water Districts Jeff Bennett, Environment Non-Voting Members Raymond Bader, Texas A&M Clifford Resengberg, IBWD Zhuping Sheng, Texas A&M Guests John Ashworth, LBG-Guyton Associates Kit Thomas, Horizon Regional MUD Erik Zimmer, Alpine City Manager Victor Morales, Freese & Nichols David Garcia, Tornillo Water Improvement District David Cantu, San Elizario Minutes Becky Brewster, Municipalities Dave Hall, Public Paul Perez, Industries Randy Barker, Groundwater Districts Commissioner Albert Miller, Water Utilities William Patton, Electric Val Beard, Counties proxy for Teresa Todd Ari Michelson, Texas A&M Woody Irving, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Rob Barthen, Texas Department of Agriculture Jennifer Herrera, LBG-Guyton Associates Mike Pallanez, Brewster County Richard Gilliland, Hunt Companies Kathryn Hairston, Secretary of State Mike Terrazas, Jr., El Paso County Water Improvement District 1. Chairman Tom Beard called the meeting to order at 1:30 pm MDT. Quorum was determined for execution of Far West Texas Water Planning Group (FWTWPG) business. 2. Chairman Beard recognized guests and designated alternates. 3. Approval of Minutes of the FWTWPG November 5, 2015 Meeting. Chuy Reyes made a motion to approve the Minutes as presented. Dave Hall seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 4. Member Updates. Chuy Reyes informed the group that water was released from Caballo dam on March 26 th and arrived in El Paso a day earlier than anticipated. The District is in a better position this year 1

4 compared to last year. The full allocation the District will receive is 30 inches. However during a full allocation, the maximum amount is 48 inches. Mr. Reyes reminded everyone that we are still in drought conditions. Nevertheless, the District is putting its farmers in a better position to make good crops because they are irrigating two months earlier. 5. Kathleen Jackson, Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Board Member, spoke to the group. She mentioned that she is one of three directors from TWDB and provided information about herself. She explained that she is passionate about water and knows how important it is for agriculture and rural communities to know they have the water they need. She is no stranger to serving water needs having served on the Lower Neches Valley Authority in southeast Texas previously. She sees her role at the TWDB to make sure that projects get moving as she is traveling around the State. She reminded the group the purpose of the TWDB is to develop water for Texas. No project is too big or small to fund. She also informed the group that TWDB does water supply, treatment, distribution and wastewater treatment. 6. Thomas Barnett, Project Manager, TWDB, provided an update to the group. He talked to the group on the draft 2017 State water plan. He reiterated what was previously said by Ms. Jackson that the TWDB was established in 1957 as a result of the 1950 s drought. The 2017 State water plan is the tenth for the State. The first six of those was a top down approach, however ever since Senate Bill 1, which was passed in 1997; the approach is now a bottom up approach where the TWDB receives the information and from regional water planning groups from the plans they submit. The board from the TWDB passed the draft plan in March of this year. On April 18 th, a public hearing will be held to talk about the State draft plan. In addition to the plan, the interactive website is up for public comment. He showed the group some of the items that are included on the website. He informed the group that TWDB will review all public comments once they are received and consider adopting the plan by this summer. By Statute, TWDB is required to provide the final State plan to the Governor and the State Legislature by January 5, They should be providing the plan well before this due date. Mr. Barnett also mentioned during this cycle the TWDB will be making updates to the rule making process, as well as stakeholders and methodological updates. They are in the initial stages of the rule making process for the first two chapters of the Administrative Code and taking initial input on what that might involve. The TWDB will also be proposing some changes as a result of legislative changes. TWDB will be holding a technical stakeholders meeting on May 2 in Austin. The meeting is geared for the consultants, Chairs and Administrative agencies operating planning groups. Mr. Barnett mentioned for round five, TWDB will move to utility based planning. For the first four cycles, the main unit for planning has been political subdivisions such as cities or census designated places. The move to utility based should better sync up historical information as well as when projects come into the agency. TWDB will also be looking at the non-municipal demand projections methodology. For three of them it will be done through a peer review process; they are irrigation, manufacturing and steam/electric power. For livestock, since that number usually stays flat, TWDB is looking at having the 2022 projections be the same as the current projections. They are still considering a methodology for mining. Finally, Mr. Barnett provided a timeline of the fifth planning cycle to the group. Scott Reinert, Vice-Chairman asked what population source will be used for the new cycle. Mr. Barnett stated 2

5 the water survey will play a greater role in determining population and the TWDB will be giving this item a new look at their approach. Dr. Ari Michelson mentioned to Mr. Barnett that across the State of Texas, the agricultural irrigation acreage numbers that TWDB puts out are far from accurate. So much so that several regions have hired consultants to review this item Dr. Michelson requested for TWDB to look into this item more closely since agriculture is the biggest user in many regions. Ms. Jackson asked for the regions to assist TWDB in this effort. She mentioned that production numbers from the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service agency were no longer available and as a result of this change she asking for the users or their associations to provide more information to help establish the base estimate. From there, she asked for the group to provide feedback to the methodology being used because now is the opportunity to make any changes since TWDB is reviewing this section. Chairman Beard asked if any other members wanted to provide an update on their projects. Scott Reinert, mentioned EPWU has developed eight more projects for SWIFT funding and is working very closely with Lee Huntoon from TWDB in trying to secure the funding. Their focus continues to be in advanced purified water, aquifer storage and recovery, expansion of their surface water plan and the desalination plant. 7. John Ashworth, LBG Guyton-Associates spoke to the group on the Fifth Cycle of Water Planning for Region E. Ms. Gutierrez informed the group that LBG-Guyton Associates was the only consultant who responded to the RFQ. Mr. John Ashworth discussed with the group how the plan has evolved over the years so they are not resting solely on the past history with the group. He explained the most current plan is requesting more information from communities and they want to expand on that effort moving forward into the new cycle. LBG also wants to look more closely at colonias and how the planning group can to serve to assist their needs. He also mentioned LBG would like to provide the colonias information on how they can access funding through state or federal agencies. Mr. Ashworth informed the group that his involvement in this process is going to flip roles with Jennifer Herrera. She will become the project manager but he will still be assisting with the effort. Dave Hall made a motion to select LBG-Guyton Associates as the prime consultant for the 5th round of the Far West Texas Water Planning, and authorize the Rio Grande Council of Governments to negotiate a contract with LBG-Guyton Associates. Chuy Reyes seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 8. Discuss and consider selection of LBG-Guyton Associates as the prime consultant for the 5 th round of the Far West Texas Water Planning, and authorize the Rio Grande Council of Governments to negotiate a contract with LBG-Guyton. There was no action on this item because it was covered in agenda item #7. 9. Chairman Beard asked if there were any suggestions from the group regarding the election of officers. Ms. Gutierrez informed the group the vacancies for the position are the Chairman, Secretary and economic development. All other officers indicated their interest in continuing to serve in their capacity. He asked everyone to think about who they may want for these positions. Dave Hall reminded the group that there should be a balance between rural and urban communities. 3

6 9. The group discussed and considered a date for a public meeting to solicit input from the public on issues that should be addressed in the regional or state water plan for the Fifth Cycle of Water Planning. As well, the group discussed allowing the Rio Grande Council of Governments to place a 30 day notice prior to the meeting. Ms. Gutierrez mentioned to the group that it would be advantageous to have the next water planning meeting along with the public meeting. Jeff Bennett, Big Bend National Park Service, mentioned two public meetings would be advantageous to have in order to give the public an opportunity to attend at either location. A suggestion was made to have the meeting in Alpine for the eastern half. A suggestion was made to have it the Civic Center. The group discussed that a date would be determined at a later time dependent on the 30 day notice but the public meeting and water planning meeting would be on the same day in Alpine at 3:30 pm. The other public meeting would be in El Paso at the Texas Agrilife Research Center. Becky Brewster made a motion to authorize the RGCOG to set up the meetings as discussed, to include posting a 30 day notice in the regional newspapers and notify the group of the final meeting dates. Jeff Bennet seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 10. Jim Miller made a motion to adjourn. Dave Hall seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 4

7 AGENDA FAR WEST TEXAS WATER PLANNING GROUP REGION E MEETING Thursday, June 2, :30 P.M. (CDT) 100 N. 13 th Street Alpine, Texas Financial Report

8 FAR WEST TEXAS WATER PLANNING GROUP COSTSHARE SUMMARY COUNTY / ENTITY Proposed Paid Share FY16 Brewster City of Alpine $ 1, $ 1, Brewster County $ 1, $ 1, Brewster County GCD $ $ Culberson Town of Van Horn $ $ Culberson County $ $ Culberson County GCD $ $ El Paso Town of Anthony $ $ Town of Clint $ $ El Paso Water Utilities - Public Service Board $ 39, $ 39, Westway $ - $ - Homestead MUD $ - $ - El Paso County WID #1 $ 2, $ 2, El Paso County WID #4 (Fabens CDP) $ $ Fort Bliss $ - $ - Horizon City $ 1, $ 1, Horizon Regional MUD $ 1, $ 1, Lower Valley Water District $ 1, Not Paid San Elizario $ - $ - City of Socorro $ 2, $ 2, E.P. County Tornillo WID $ $ Village of Vinton $ $ El Paso County $ 2, Paid after 4/30/16 Revenue & Expense Report Hudspeth Hudspeth County UWCD#1 (Dell City) $ $ Hudspeth County WCID (Sierra Blanca CDP) $ $ Hudspeth County $ $ Hudspeth County CRD#1 $ $ Jeff Davis Jeff Davis Co. UWCD $ $ Jeff Davis County $ $ Presidio City of Marfa $ $ City of Presidio $ 1, Not Paid Presidio County (County Other) $ $ Presidio County UWCD $ $ Terrell Terrell County (County Other) $ $ Sanderson CDP $ - $ 62, $ 56, Note: The proposed cost share plan uses the same 85% urban / 15% rural proportional share approved by the WPG during the previous biennium. Administrative Cost FY16 Urban Track Admin 85% $ 52,700 Rural Track Admin 15% $ 9,300 Total Admin Cost per year $ 62,000 Page 1 of 2

9 Far West Water Planning Group 10/1/2015-4/30/16 Year-to-Date Actual Year-to- Date Budget % Used Budget Variance Total Revenues $56, $62, % $5, Year-to-Date Actual Year-to- Date Budget % Used Budget Variance Salaries $9, $19, % $10, Benefit Cost $3, $7, % $4, Indirect Cost $12, $19, % $6, Travel $3, $3, % $59.41 Meeting Expense $ $ % -$42.50 Supplies $ $1, % $ Supplies $ $ % $22.50 Printing $ $ % $ Contractual $0.00 $2, % $2, Telephone $ $ % $ Postage $49.54 $ % $ Rent $1, $2, % $ Rent-Storage $ $ % $88.24 Training $0.00 $ % $ Maintenance & Repairs $ $ % $ $ $ % $0.17 Public Notice $ $1, % $ Total Expenditures $34, $62, $27,674.71