Doug Shaw, general manager for the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District addresses the commissioner’s court Monday. (Photo by Barbara Green)

By BARBARA GREEN

While making his regular report to the Montague County Commissioners Monday on Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District activities General Manager Doug Shaw was grilled about a nearly 30 percent increase in the cost of a well application.
Shaw makes periodic reports to all four counties within the district, Montague, Parker, Wise and Hood. The district staff has moved to its recently completed office at 1859 West State Highway 199 in Springtown.
This 5,400 square foot building was designed to help promote water conservation. Shaw said it will catch all the rainwater storing it in a 4,500 storage tank that will handle landscaping.

Later in the meeting, Commissioner Bob Langford asked why the application fee for a new well went from $175 to $600, calling it a “substantial jump.” The fee was effective Jan. 1.
Shaw said it all relates to handling more than 1,000 applications a year that require the staff to verify property boundaries, ownership and other parts of the application.

Read the full story in the mid-week News.