General Elements

Elements of the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District’s (HGSD) 2013 Regulatory Plan, which are applicable to all HGSD Regulatory Areas and all permittees, include:

  1. When an alternative water supply is available to a site, regardless of total water demand, permittees will be required to reduce groundwater withdrawals to no more than 20% of their total water demand (10% in HGSD Regulatory Area 1), unless the permittee is in compliance with a certified Groundwater Reduction Plan (GRP).
  2. Permits for irrigating agricultural crops, as defined in the HGSD Rules, are exempted from groundwater reduction requirements and disincentive fees in the HGSD Regulatory Plan. However, all permittees are encouraged to use best management practices to minimize groundwater withdrawals.
  3. A disincentive fee will be applied consistent with specific groundwater reduction requirements in HGSD Regulatory Areas 1, 2, and 3.
  4.  Exemptions from the disincentive fee may be granted for users with a total water demand of 10 million gallons per year (MGY) or less.
  5. Two or more permittees within the same HGSD Regulatory Area, may enter into Contractual Agreements to share costs or cooperate in ways that achieve orderly reductions in total groundwater use and conversions to alternative water supplies. Any such groundwater reduction agreements must be approved by the HGSD’s Board of Directors. Permittees may join with or form new regional entities for the purpose of reducing groundwater withdrawal. Individual permittees will be waived from separate compliance with groundwater reduction requirements when they form part of a group of permittees, within the same HGSD Regulatory Area, that together (as a group) achieve compliance with the HGSD Regulatory Area requirement for that region or group.
  6. Groundwater Credits will be honored for the terms, conditions and periods prescribed on each Certificate. Over Conversion Credits will be honored for the terms prescribed in the District Rules.

HGSD Regulatory Area Requirements

Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (HGSD) is divided into three regulatory areas.  The HGSD Regulatory Plan sets a schedule for regulating groundwater withdrawal for each regulatory area.  The specific regulatory area requirements below are in addition to the general element requirements above.

HGSD Regulatory Areas

Regulatory Area 1 Requirements

  1. Groundwater withdrawals for each permittee must comprise no more than 10% of the permittee’s annual total water demand.
  2. A disincentive fee will be applied to any groundwater allocation that constitutes greater than 10% of the permittee’s total water demand.

Regulatory Area 2 Requirements

  1. Groundwater withdrawals for each permittee must comprise no more than 20% of the permittee’s annual total water demand.
  2. A disincentive fee will be applied to any groundwater allocation that constitutes greater than 20% of the permittee’s total water demand.

Regulatory Area 3 Requirements

  1. Groundwater withdrawals for each permittee must comprise no more than 20% of the permittee’s annual total water demand, unless the permittee is operating under a certified Groundwater Reduction Plan (GRP).
  2. A permittee (or a group of permittees operating under a single permit, within the same Regulatory Area) may submit a Groundwater Reduction Plan to the HGSD’s Board of Directors for certification. To qualify for certification, a GRP must meet the minimum requirements of this Regulatory Plan. Existing certified GRPs must incorporate any changes required by this Regulatory Plan and resubmit that plan for certification no later than July 1, 2014. Any GRP that is not amended and re-certified will remain in effect, and the original deadlines and reduction percentages will remain in place.
  3. A permittee operating under a certified GRP must maintain their groundwater withdrawals to comprise no more than 70% of the permittee’s total water demand.
  4. Beginning with permits issued in 2025, a permittee operating under a certified GRP shall be required to reduce and maintain their groundwater withdrawals to comprise no more than 40% of the permittee’s total water demand.
  5. Beginning with permits issued in 2035, and continuing thereafter, a permittee operating under a certified GRP shall be required to reduce and maintain their groundwater withdrawals to comprise no more than 20% of the permittee’s total water demand.
  6. A disincentive fee shall be applied to any groundwater allocation that constitutes greater than 20% of a permittee’s total water demand unless the permittee is operating under and in compliance with a certified GRP.
  7. A disincentive fee shall be applied to any groundwater allocation that constitutes greater than 20% of a permittee’s total water demand if that permittee is not in compliance with their certified GRP.
  8. Permittees who qualify for the Permit Reconciliation Process shall pay disincentive fees in accordance with that process.

Groundwater Reduction Plans

Permittees within HGSD Regulatory Area 3, with a total water demand greater than 10 million gallons per year, may avoid disincentive fees by submitting and receiving certification of a Groundwater Reduction Plan as long as they comply with the groundwater reduction goals and other milestones in that plan. GRPs must, at a minimum, include details of the strategies and steps necessary for achieving HGSD Regulatory Area 3 groundwater reductions. GRPs must be submitted for certification by the HGSD’s Board of Directors.

Minimum requirements for an acceptable GRP include:

  1. Identification of current and projected total water demand
    • The data must be from a source agreed upon by the HGSD
    • Projections must be for a time period sufficiently into the future to achieve full compliance with regulatory requirements.
    • Reasons detailing any potential increase in groundwater use.
  2. Plans for groundwater reduction
    • Definition of infrastructure requirements to meet permittee’s projected total water demand
    • Timetable showing what infrastructure will be constructed by a specific date to meet projected requirements
    • Explanation of how infrastructure costs will be financed
    • Identification of source for water supply, water provider, and amount of water supply available
    • Evidence (executed contractual agreement or financial commitment) that the water supplier has sufficient water supplies or rights and is willing to meet the permittee’s projected alternative water demands necessary to meet the 2025 requirements
    • Timetable showing when contractual agreements or financial commitments will be executed for alternative water demands for 2035 and beyond
    • Preliminary engineering report of the proposed facilities to be constructed, necessary to meet the 2025 requirements including a description of the proposed project and area maps.
    • Conceptual schematic plans of the proposed facilities to be constructed, necessary to meet the 2035 requirements
  3. Other information reasonably necessary for an adequate understanding of the project.

The HGSD Board of Directors may, during consideration of certifying a GRP, require additional information, milestones or reports as a condition of issuing the certification