Welcome to San Geronimo Valley Alliance, Inc. (SGVA)
serving the San Geronimo Valley NW of San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country
Misson: To preserve and protect the rural quality of life and natural resources in northwestern Bexar and northeastern Medina counties, including San Geronimo Creek and Valley and the Edwards and Trinity Aquifers of Texas.
Announcements!
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 9 at 7 p.m. at the Casey home located at 14352 Santa Rita.
If you'd like to join SGVA, annual membership is only $25 for a single or couple! Mail check to SGVA, 19903 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023. Thanks. Currently we have about 100 names on our comprehensive e-mail list of people who like to know what's going on, many of whom help peripherally, and close to 50 paid members.
Many thanks to those who sent donations as a result of our letter, which appears on "Donate" page. Every penny of that money goes to pay our legal fees for two contested cases, and our legal fees continue, so if you haven't remitted yet, there's still time. Use PayPal or send check to SGVA, 19903 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023.
If you would like to receive updates, go to "Contact" page and send an e-mail including your name and e-mail address.
The Blue Hole
at San Geronimo Creek
Indians would stop at the spring-fed Blue Hole for a swim, as chronicled in Dr. Rudolph Menger's Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscences, published in 1913. Today neighbors and friends swim in the blue hole.
Should sewer effluent from more than 10,000 residents, a 14-story hotel and a business district be discharged into this pristine creek? SGVA members don't think so.
Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
Background
The San Geronimo Valley of the Hill Country of Texas is a scenic, historical corridor along Bandera Road (SH 16) eight to ten miles northwest of San Antonio. Its greatest significance is that it is a recharge area for the Edwards Aquifer, the source of drinking water for 1.7 million people in the greater San Antonio area.
When rain falls on a recharge area, that area needs to be as free from structures and other impervious cover as possible, so moisture can seep through the soil and down through the limestone cracks and crevices into the caves of the aquifer. The Edwards is reputed to be one of the purest and best aquifers in the nation.
In August 2006 an affiliate of Baruch Properties of Dallas purchased 1,766 acres of Hill Country 10 miles northwest of San Antonio, named it "Hills of Castle Rock," and applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a permit to build a sewer plant, which in its first phase would discharge 225,000 gallons of treated effluent a day into pristine San Geronimo Creek.
SGVA opposes the permit for many reasons, not the least of which is the likelihood that raw sewage will accidentally spill into the creek, endangering the health, safety and welfare of residents who drink the water, eat fish caught in the creek, and swim and tube there.
Among other concerns are potential pollution of the Edwards Aquifer, source of drinking water for 1.7 million people, and emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, which can't be detected or scrubbed by operation of a treatment facility.
The TCEQ contested case hearing took place in late January, 2009. It lasted three days instead of five and consisted mostly of cross-examination of folks who had given pre-trial testimony. After post-trial details like attorneys' briefs on the issues, the judge will make his recommendation to the three-member TCEQ Board of Commissioners, who may adopt that recommendation -- or not.
Parties opposing the sewer plant include several individual members of SGVA and the group as a whole, plus the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) and the City of San Antonio.
In early December 2007, in a highly unusual but welcome move, SAWS had unanimously denied Baruch's request to pipe Edwards Aquifer water a distance of 7.5 miles up Bandera Road to the development, citing protection of the aquifer recharge zone and undesirable leapfrogging over undeveloped areas as reasons for the decision.
Then, in April '08, the San Antonio City Council voted unanimously to deny BP city approval to request, from TCEQ, the formation of up to three Municipal Utility Districts for its proposed development.
But the story doesn't end there. Click on "Water" above for more.