As we’ve worked to expand our outreach, we’ve noticed a lot of terminology we use is exclusive to the water world. For any of our future articles to make sense, a little background helps.
You’ll hear us talk about “DFC’s” or Desired Future Conditions. DFC’s are, according to Title 31, Part 10, §356.10 (6) of the Texas Administrative Code, “the desired, quantified condition of groundwater resources (such as water levels, spring flows, or volumes).” Basically, these are the conditions we want to see at a future date. Ours are based on acceptable levels of drawdown in the aquifers we cover. “Drawdown” refers to how far down the water is from the surface. When we measure water levels, we drop a line into the well and measure how far it is from the top of the well to the where the water is located. The smaller the number, the better. Determination of DFCs centers on data from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) derived from Modeled Available Groundwater (MAG) showing the Total Estimated Recoverable Storage (TERS). Each GCD (Groundwater Conservation District) belongs to a GMA (Groundwater Management Area.) The Hickory UWCD is part of GMA 7. DFCs must be approved by the District as well as other members of the GMA to which the District belongs. The final approved DFCs are then submitted to the RWPG (Regional Water Planning Group) and become part of the State Water Plan.