Formed August 24, 1985, the Irion County WCD covers Irion County and portions of Tom Green County. Activities include a quarterly water measuring program, a rainfall monitoring program, and a water quality management program. The District also provides in-house partial chemical and bacteriological analysis at no cost to well owners. The District collects data including well logs, water level measurements, water quality analysis, annual rainfall, and contamination data. Data is shared with the Upper Colorado River Authority, TWDB, TCEQ, other agencies and entities, and various consultants for use in updating groundwater availability models, recharge models, and other projects.
Public Education
The District provides programs and information to schools and local organizations on water conservation, weather modification, and other topics and publishes news articles and releases. A groundwater flow model is used to demonstrate groundwater movement through the aquifer and effects of contamination. The District sponsors two scholarships to graduating high school seniors pursuing careers in science fields.
Special Projects
The District was instrumental in forming the West Texas Weather Modification Association in March, 1996 with six other groundwater conservation districts. This Association was formed for the purpose on conducting a rainfall enhancement program (cloud seeding) for all or part of eight counties for a total target area of 6.4 million acres.
The District, with the West Texas Regional Groundwater Alliance, LBG-Guyton Associates, and Region F Regional Water Planning Group, will participate in a two year recharge study project to gather water level and rainfall data on a monthly basis from selected wells. This project will provide additional data to be included in the Edwards/Trinity GAM for better management of the groundwater resources within the region. This project will also enable the groundwater model to be a tool used for projecting recharge, impact from groundwater use on available groundwater resources, and the development of a drought management plan on a local as well as regional basis.
In cooperation with the Upper Colorado River Authority, the District monitors water levels to determine effects of the Texas Brush Program, Middle Concho Project on groundwater availability.
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