Analysis of Drawdown for Three Ground Water Projects in Roberts County, Texas and Comparison to the 50-Percent Goal

Three water production projects have been proposed in and adjacent to Roberts County, Texas, and are in various stages of planning, permitting, construction, and implementation. The projects are referred to as the Amarillo, Mesa, and Canadian River Municipal Water Authority (CRMWA) projects. The total pumping from the Ogallala aquifer in these projects is anticipated to be more than 280,000 acre-feet/year. Additional permit applications for groundwater development in the Roberts County area are expected. This study was performed at the request of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District to evaluate whether these projects, at an average pumping rate of 1 acre-foot/acre per year or at some lower average pumping rate, might meet District aquifer management goals. These projects were evaluated in various combinations. Three scenarios treated each project by itself. Three more scenarios combined the three projects in pairs. A seventh scenario analyzed all three as simultaneous projects. An eighth scenario evaluated hypothetical production from the entire Roberts County area. The scenarios were evaluated using a groundwater flow model of the Ogallala aquifer developed for the Panhandle Regional Water Planning Group.