Are Water Well Meters a Phantom or Reality?

23/07/10 09:20 Filed in: Water | Distractions | Diversions

I became interested in water issues several years ago when I heard the government was planning to place meters on residential water wells. The threat was real. It could mean a limit on the amount of water I could pump from my own well or maybe a tax on the water I did pump. There was always the possibility of both a limit and a tax.

I was worried and defiant.

I wanted to know when the meters were coming and find out which officials were behind them. What could I do to stop this interference with my own private property rights especially my right to pump water from underneath my own land?

After all, the 2005 Texas Legislature had determined that our state might not have enough water during future droughts if our projected population growth materialized. This was serious. It might not just be the local authorities but the state might really have an interest in my personal water well.

I began attending public meetings, reading, researching and talking to people who really knew about water. A strange reality surfaced. Nobody outside Kerr County was talking about water meters. Reading and research produced nothing on private well meters.

The threat was isolated to Kerr County.

A very ominous pattern finally became evident. A select few investor/developer/realtor types are very skilled at attending local board meetings and water workshops to threaten a citizens uprising when any responsible water planning item is scheduled. One recently threatened to ‘fill up the Callioux’ with people fighting water meters if the board even considered a totally unrelated issue. How he extrapolated the agenda item to water meters was puzzling until I realized his own stake in the issue at hand.

Knowledge gained at meetings in surrounding counties and regional water planning groups has been enlightening. Water meter paranoia is absent.

I have come to the conclusion that any time I spend worrying about a meter on my well means I have been outfoxed into wasting my time and energy on a phantom threat. I now know the water meter threat is a sly diversion from the real issue of whether there will be any water in my well to pump.

Tags: Taxes, Threats, Water Meters, Water Wells, No Water, Private Water Well Meters