Transcript
Transcript edited for clarity and readability.

The Subsidence District adopted a rule that basically said we had to stop pumping groundwater so that about 80% would ultimately be converted to surface water.

The Subsidence District adopted that rule in 1999, and in 2000 the Authority was really just a thought in people’s minds.

It was a huge undertaking. How were we going to accomplish this? For years, our source of water had been groundwater. It was inexpensive and easy to obtain. You just punched a hole in the aquifer, put a little chlorine in the water, and you were good to go.

But the Subsidence District had this rule in place to protect the aquifer, reduce subsidence, and prevent the problems that come with subsidence, including flooding.

In 2000, everybody started planning and thinking about how the western part of the county was going to deal with this new conversion requirement.

A steering committee was created, and the head of that committee was the president of the Association of Water Board Directors, Dan Sallee. Dan was wearing two hats. He was president of AWBD and also head of the steering committee.

There were so many challenges. It seemed almost insurmountable. Where were we going to get the water? What kind of terms were we going to get in a water contract?

Everybody knew the City of Houston was the main water supplier in the region because they had gone out many decades before we ever came along and acquired the water rights.

That’s kind of how this all began.

Watch more from The People Behind the Progress Video Series:
https://www.whcrwa.com/people-behind-the-progress/