Water Wars!

In my city of San Antonio there is an ongoing debate and “war” (some might call it) about the land over the aquifer. The area in question is called the recharge zone. The recharge zone’s soil is very shallow that if any contaminants were to be spilled, it would easily seep into our drinking water. So naturally you would think that whole recharge zone area would be closed off or protected by the city. WRONG!!! After reading the Losing Ground series posted in the Express News, it’s safe to say that this city has huge problems to work out. It seems this city has two major problems that stand in the way of this. It seems that the city of San Antonio has a law that dates back to the 1987 called vested rights. Our first Problem “vested rights” states that when a land project is finalized with blue prints or when the land was purchased; the developer can follow the city ordinances of the year it was brought in fruition.

This means land bought 30 years ago can only follow the city ordinances of the 70’s and not by today standards. This doesn’t sit well with me at all, but this is happening to land over the recharge zone. The second problem is the driving force that helped put the vested rights in the first place…….. “the land developers”. The lobbyists for the land developers are bleeding this city dry. Using very cunning tactics the lobbyists push for laws and ordinances that fall in their favor. With vested rights at the way it is the land developers can set up shop anywhere in the city. The city does it’s best to contain this. In 1997 there was a tree ordinance created to protect the trees of the hill country. It was then made stronger in 2003. The disadvantage the city faces is that people serving on the board at city hall can only be there for 2 terms (4 years) while the lobbyists always stay the same. This means there is a constant of ever changing faces in the city hall that are unfamiliar to vested rights and how sneaky it is.

All the while the lobbyists are getting better at protecting their vest rights. The city does try to buy back some of the land over the recharge zone, but the land developers sell back the land at twice it’s price. This way the city can only buy small portions and the developers retain the majority amount and make a buck. Of course I am against this whole or deal. The city has to make better ordinances to stop this or better negotiations so both parties can come to an agreement. The losing ground services was very helpful because it exposed me to a problem I never knew existed. It’s opened my eyes to the injustice of water rights and how the whole city should know about this. Vested rights are taking money from an all ready poor city, not to mention the possibility of contamination of the recharge zone. The article losing ground is helpful, but needs to reach a larger audience because not everybody is aware of this and they should!!!